Defiance
by Sherlock's Imaginary Friend
Summary: Research into a man seen in one of Sam's visions leads them to believe that his name is Aaron Bashter. Sam saw him die- watched him get flung across the room like a paperwieght by an unseen girl who called him dad. Problem? Aaron had three daughters. S1
1. Death Wishes

**Beta: **Wingedteen

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Defiance

Courtesy of another of Sam's death visions, the Winchesters are on the hunt again. This time, though, it's different. They know that the daughter killed her father. They know she's dangerous, her telekinetic powers well beyond those of Max. There's just one problem. They don't know which one of the girls killed him.

* * *

The still kitchen came to life as a middle aged man walked in, flicking the switch. He dumped the food on the bench and began to pull it out: pasta, tomato paste and mince.

"Sweetie, what are you doing still up?" he said suddenly. He looked up, and turned to the door. The clock on the wall gave an indication of the time. The light out the window, -or the lack of it there of- showed that it was around one in the morning.

"Who are my real parents?" a voice asked. Clearly a girl, the voice was pitched too high to be a man. The man sighed, and ran his hand through his hair.

"We've been through this, hon." The man answered. "I'm your real dad."

"Who are my biological parents? Was I even born in Wichita?" the girl asked again. From the tone of voice, it was obvious that she was getting annoyed.

"Go to bed. We'll talk about this in the morning-" the man started

"No we _won't!_ You always say that, and we never do!" the girl interrupted him again.

"There is _nothing _to talk about. Do not disobey me this time. I'm your dad, your _biological_ farther."

"Stop _**lying!"**_ an invisible force rippled through the air and slammed the man into the bench behind him, effectively forcing him to abide by the girl's demand.


	2. Telekinetic

**Beta: **Wingedteen

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Defiance

Courtesy of another of Sam's death visions, the Winchesters are on the hunt again. This time, though, it's different. They know that the daughter killed her father. They know she's dangerous, her telekinetic powers well beyond those of Max. There's just one problem. They don't know which one of the girls killed him.

* * *

Sam sat straight up on the bed, his heart pounding. After a second, he realised that he wasn't in a homey kitchen in Wichita, but in a cheap motel in North Platte, Nebraska. Sam slowly lowered himself back onto the mattress and rested his head on the pillow.

Sam and Dean had just cleaned up after a few werewolves, and Sam knew that Dean was looking for something else supernatural to hunt. He also knew that his brother wouldn't appreciate being woken up in the dead of night.

Once his heart rate had slowed back down, Sam slipped off his bed and walked silently to Dean's. In one quick movement, he grabbed the knife that he knew Dean kept under the pillow and pulled it out. Once he was sure that Dean had nothing else dangerous within reach that could kill him, Sam woke his brother.

As expected, Dean acted first and thought later. His hand went under his pillow, and when it encountered no knife, he jumped up and proceeded to launch himself at Sam.

Having the advantage of being awake longer (and being more of a morning person), Sam quickly ended the fight, pinning Dean to the floor. It reminded him a lot of the night that Dean had come to ask him for help finding their dad, but he didn't let himself get lost in the memory.

"Damn it, Sam!" Dean growled when he finally realised that it was his brother pinning him to the floor. Sam rolled off and Dean stood up, glaring. "You don't wake me up just for a wrestling match! I can kick your ass any time during the day!" Dean yelled, glaring at his brother.

Although Sam's eyes darkened, Sam remained calm.

"Dean, we've got to go to Wichita." Sam said. Although Dean was still half asleep, the serious tone of voice and the way Sam had woken him up hit Dean hard. He looked at his brother and nodded his confirmation of the idea, and began to clean up everything in the room.

Between them, the brothers had brought in a lot of stuff in the past week they'd been there. In half an hour, the car was packed, and they were both ready to go.

"Was it another dream?" Dean asked as they drove down the highway. Sam looked up from the map and met his brother's eyes briefly.

"Yeah." Sam answered after a minute's silence.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Dean pressed. He wasn't known for being indirect, Sam thought. He would let you have your space, if he thought it was a good idea, but otherwise, well, too bad.

Sam sighed to himself. He knew Dean was only trying to look out for him. It didn't help the frustration levels, though. Though Dean was sympathetic to his situation, it really would be nice if there was someone who knew what he was going through.

He always used to have one. When he was young, Dean had always seen how he felt. Sam guessed it was his fault for running away on that one. If he'd stayed Dean would probably have a better idea on how he was feeling. He'd have had more practice, and they would probably be closer to each other.

When he'd been in collage, he'd had a few friends. Not many, just enough to get through. And then he'd had Jess. She'd been able to see through his armour from the moment she's met him. The thought of Jess hurt as, yet again, he remembered that he'd had visions of her dieing before she did.

In a way, being with Dean was better then his 'college buddies' as Dean put it. Dean knew about supernatural things, so there was nothing he needed to hide from him for fear of Dean thinking he was crazy.

"Sam?" Dean's voice brought him back to the car. Dean was just worried about him.

"Yeah, umm..." Sam thought back to the dream. "There was a girl." _The voice was pitched too high to be a man._ "She was trying to find out about her parents. Her real parents. The man, the one who died, he seemed to be under the illusion that if he told her he was her dad, then she'd believe him." _There is _nothing_ to talk about. Do not disobey me this time. I'm your dad, your _biological_ farther. _"The girl got pissed and…" Sam trailed off

"And what?" Dean prompted, seeing his brother falling into the memories. "Sam. What, did she turn into a werewolf and bite his head off, just plain stab him or what?"

Sam seemed to come out of his trance. "She threw him across the room. I think she broke his neck." He answered.

"Wow. She's got some upper-body strength. So, remind me why we're looking into this?"

"No, that's not it."_ An invisible force rippled through the air and slammed the man into the bench behind him._ "She didn't touch the man. It was like something invisible hit him. He died from the impact with the bench. Like I said, probably a broken neck."

"Great. A telekinetic. Just what I wanted to meet. Again." Dean cried. The last person with telekineses that they'd met had been abused all his life. He'd snapped and killed two family members, going after a third. Dean didn't think he had been that strong, though. The telekinetic had locked car doors, moved windows and knives, but Dean doubted that he had been able to send a fully grown man flying into something, let alone hard enough to break his neck.

The only way to stop him had been to get him to kill himself. By the sounds of it, it wouldn't be that easy to stop this girl.


	3. Interrogation

_A/N: Ok, here's the thing. I haven't actually seen all of Supernatural._

**Beta:** Wingedteen

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Defiance

Courtesy of another of Sam's death visions, the Winchesters are on the hunt again. This time, though, it's different. They know that the daughter killed her father. They know she's dangerous, her telekinetic powers well beyond those of Max. There's just one problem. They don't know which one of the girls killed him.

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Interrogation

Alex looked around at the house's yard. The grass was still uncut, browning and full of weeds. The house next door still loomed over hers, giving the house a bit of a creepy feel to it.

She couldn't see any of that, however, because of the people. The police cars were on the street, blocking the view of the house next door. There were people all over the lawn –rather the space between the footpath and the front of the house- trying to see in.

Helen's cold fingers wrapped around Alex's wrist and tugged her inside. Alex let Helen drag her into the lounge room to speak to the police officer that was waiting impatiently for her statement. He wasn't exactly happy about being called from his bed at three in the morning. Alex wondered if the officers ever thought about how _she_ felt, coming down stairs to get a drink and finding her dad's dead body in the kitchen.

"Miss…" the officer began, his tone not quite polite, looking at Alex for her name.

"Alexandra." she answered, making sure to look him in the eyes. Alex was sick of his superior, snotty attitude towards herself and her sisters. Alex smirked internally as he broke eye contact first, which by pack rules, would have made her the more dominant wolf.

"Miss Alexandra. You're the youngest, correct?" the officer looked to Alex and Helen for confirmation. Alex nodded as Stacy entered the room, and they sat down on the lounge together, leaving the officer their dad's armchair.

"So you found the body?" he began. Again, Alex nodded. "Can you tell me about how that happened?" the officer prodded. Alex took a deep breath before answering.

"Ok, so, I woke up, as I usually do in the night. I'm always in need of water in the middle of the night, so this was no different. So I walked down to the kitchen. I didn't turn the light on because I can find things around here without it. I've been here that long, and it rarely changes. I got my drink and I was going back to my room when I stumbled on something. I wanted to know what it was, so I hit the light switch. And…" Alex broke down in tears when she got to this point, and her story began to be a muffled muttering among the sobs.

"Is there anyone you can think of who might have wanted to kill your father?" the officer asked, putting his question to everyone there, not just Alex. Helen took over from her younger sister, leaving Stacy to whisper the words of comfort.

"No. He was good, and kind. He was the best dad you could have asked for. We all loved him even though-" Helen broke off. The officer noted this and looked up, questioning her with his gaze. When she didn't respond, he voiced the question.

"Even though, what?" he asked. Helen shared a quick look with Stacy before going on.

"Even though he's not our… real dad." The girl answered. The officer looked up, and the differences in their hair colours caught his eye. The girl that had just been speaking, Helen, was pale, and delicate, as though she'd been fashioned out of glass. Her eyes were green, set in a heart-shaped face, and framed by her straight blond hair.

The girl in the middle, Alexandra, was more athletic looking and solidly built, tanned, and had an air about her that said she could take on anything. Her eyes were a dark hazel, her hair long, dark and wavy. She was obviously not one to take lightly.

The other girl -Stacy, he guessed from his notes- was athletic, deeper tanned then Alexandra and looked like she wanted you to know it. On top of that, she had the kind of look about her that boasted that she knew everything- not that you would be smart enough to know even that. Her hair was a short wavy red, pulled back into a hasty ponytail, pieces spinning down to frame her face.

Now that he took the time to look properly, the girls were obviously not related, and compared to their 'father' in the other room; they didn't look anything like him, either.

"Did Mr Bashter ever tell you that you were adopted?" the officer inquired. All the girls shook their heads. The one on the right, Stacy, spoke up.

"No, we all confronted him about it, but he never told us who our real parents were, or where. He always told us that he was our father." Stacy said. She obviously held some resentment, not that the officer blamed her for it.

"We said that he was our dad, daddy, the one who raised us, but he never seemed to take the hint. We all wanted to know our biological parents, but he never told us. We've been looking for them since, but we haven't found anything." Helen threw in. she blushed and hid her face in her hair after a few seconds.

Alex's sobs quietened and soon she was relaxed, breathing heavily, leaning on Stacy. The officer noted the girls' exhausted faces and thought about his own bed, longingly. He finally realised that, however bad it was for him, it was at least ten times worse for the girls, especially Alex. They'd woken up in the dead of the night to find that their father was dead. The fact that he wasn't their real father didn't really mean much- he still raised them.

"Alright." The officer stood up from the couch and headed to the door. The sun was creeping over the horizon, he noted with surprise.

Helen followed him to the door to let him out. The officer turned to the girl, and smiled.

"I'm so sorry for your loss." He told her. I was a bit late for that, he knew, but it was better late then never. "You and your sisters should get some sleep." He told Helen, before heading out to his car. He was bombarded by people wanting to know what was going on, but he walked to his car without another word.

* * *

Dean pulled the car to a stop by a motel. His he looked over to Sam, curled up in his seat. For once his brother wasn't having a nightmare, so Dean was hesitant to wake him. Even so, he couldn't very well carry him up to the room.

With a soft sigh, Dean reached across the car and gently shook his brother wake. Sam stared uncomprehendingly at his brother for a moment, before he looked around them.

"We're here?" he asked, although he was fairly sure he already knew the answer. With a nod of his head, Dean got out of the car to get a room for the two of them. He wasn't really sure how long they would be there for, so he got the room for three days.

Dean moved the car closer to the room, and grabbed a gun which was, as always, already fully loaded. Sam noticed his brother's actions and shook his head.

"Dean?" Sam called to his brother. Dean stopped for a moment, looked questioningly at his brother but continued walking. Sam got the message, though.

"We do this my way." Sam told him. Dean stopped, surprised at his brother's order. And it had been an order, he realised, not just a request.

"Sure we will, Sammy." Dean threw the words over his shoulder at his brother, followed by his trademark smirk.

"Dean, I mean it!" Sam continued to call to his brother. Dean walked into the motel room and dumped his duffle bag on the bed before turning to Sam and shoving him against the wall.

"Listen here, Sammy, and listen good. The last time we came across a telekinetic, we did it your way. We both almost got killed, and the kid died as a result. This time, we just kill the girl, and save everyone the trouble." Dean growled at his brother.

Sam twisted out of his brother's grip and glared at him.

"Dean, she was provoked. I don't think she meant to kill him. We're just going to talk to her. If you remember, last time, the only reason it went that way is because you had a gun with you." Sam growled back at Dean.

Dean, after watching his brother for a few minutes, realised he was serious. He knew his bother had made is mind up, and there was nothing Dean could do to change it.

"Alright, we do it your way." Dean turned back to his duffle bag and got ready to get some sleep. He turned back to Sam as an afterthought.

"Sam, if you wake me up before ten, I'll kill you." Dean added to his statement. Sam smirked at him, and rolled into his bed.


	4. Mourning Morning

**Beta: **Wingedteen

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Defiance

Courtesy of another of Sam's death visions, the Winchesters are on the hunt again. This time, though, it's different. They know that the daughter killed her father. They know she's dangerous, her telekinetic powers well beyond those of Max. There's just one problem. They don't know which one of the girls killed him.

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Mourning Morning

_The girl in front of Sam smiled. It was a blurred image, but from what he could make out, she had dark hair and tanned skin._

"Hi!"_ She cried. She seemed happy, as though it had been her life's ambition to meet him. Sam smiled in response._

"_Hi. Who are you?" Sam knew he should be polite, but he wanted to know what the hell was going on. He decided on a point halfway, and sat in the middle of polite and getting answers._

_Sam had the vague sense that she was trying to answer him, but something was stopping her. He hands came up to her throat, and she shuddered a few times. The girl stopped after a little while, and tried again, with the same result. She eventually gave up, and sighed at him._

"I can't tell you. Who are you?"_ she asked him. Sam opened his mouth to answer, but instead, his breath caught in his throat. He gave up, after a second, understanding the reason she couldn't answer him. As he stopped trying to say his name, his throat cleared up, and he was able to breathe again._

"_Where are we?" Sam wondered if all they could do was ask questions, and never give answers, when she answered._

"I wouldn't have a clue."_ Her voice seemed to come from far way, as though it was being shouted across a long distance._ "Do you know where we are?"

_Sam shook his head sadly at the girl. When she didn't ask him anything else, he sat down, and tried to make some sense of what was happening. After a while, his eyes became heavy, and he lay down, giving into the weight._

Sam opened his eyes, finding himself looking up at Dean. He sat up so he could take in his surroundings. The room was exactly the same as he'd left it, apart from Dean, now sitting on his own bed.

"What's up?" Sam asked, not sure why Dean had woken him. He didn't usually do it without a reason. Dean pulled something from behind him, and it landed on his bed with a _thump_. The headline was all it took to get Sam out of bed. He was halfway to the car when Dean grabbed him.

"Easy, Sammy." Dean said, twisting him around so he couldn't just bolt for the door. "Why don't we wait for a minute, read the article, and get dressed before we go racing out." Dean told Sam with a patronising smile, making sure that he realised that he had just sprinted towards the car in his PJs without any preparation whatsoever.

Sam turned to the newspaper, and began reading. The headline seemed to make it clear that the killing he'd seen had already happened. It didn't hold much new information. The police had gotten a call early last night. The man, Aaron Bashter, had been killed, his neck broken in two places. He'd been found in the kitchen. He was the father of-

"_Three _daughters?" Sam gasped. Dean looked up from where he was sitting, looking, once again, in their dad's journal.

"Huh?" Dean asked his brother. He hadn't really read the article, just glanced at the title, and gave it to Sam.

"He's got three daughters." Sam cried again for his brother's sake. He continued to stare at the paper as though it would change.

"So… you didn't actually _see_ her, did you?" Dean asked his brother. He thought that he'd be able to pick them from a crowd. Being proved wrong, he began to wonder if doing this his brother's way was actually a good idea. But, he'd already given Sam his word, and he wasn't one to go back on it lightly.

"No, she just called him her father." Sam sighed. This was going to take a while. He considered telling Dean about his latest dream, but he decided against it. It was probably nothing. Just a weird, one-off dream. Or that's what he tried to tell himself.

"So, what do we do now?" Dean asked his brother.

* * *

Alex woke from a strange dream. There had been someone. A boy. She sighed and shook her head, wondering how she'd gotten into her room. The last thing she remembered was crying on the lounge with her sisters and talking to the police.

"Alex?" A knock on the door accompanied her sister's voice. Helen hesitantly opened the door and looked in. Alex smiled at her elder sister. Helen was three years older, and she really was Alex's very best friend.

"Hey." Alex called to her sister. She'd once thought that she might be related to Helen, back when she was small. Alex'd had blond hair then, but once her hair had turned the dark colour it was now, she had realised that she wasn't related t anyone in her family.

"Hey, how're you feeling?" Helen asked her youngest sister. They were all close, Alex, Stacy and her. It wouldn't have made sense not to like each other because they weren't related. They just wanted to know who their biological family was. Not that they really thought they were missing out on anything.

"I'm ok." Alex's throat felt like someone had sanded the thing down the whole time she'd been asleep. Helen must have heard it in her voice because she winced in sympathy.

Alex sat up, and patted he end of her bed, her meaning clear. Helen walked in and sat down, facing her sister.

"There's going to be some people come around to day. You gonna be ok?" Helen was cautious, not sure how her sister was taking their dad's death. Alex nodded, slipped out her he bed, and walked to her closet, looking for something reasonable to wear. She finally selected a black dress and turned back to her sister, who was watching Alex.

"I'll be fine as long as I can get to my class." Alex responded. The many martial art classes that she went to were on everyday. Someday, there was more then one class on, but she'd go to them both. Helen understood her sister's need for the classes now. They'd give her a sense of normality, something to take out her feelings on, and to get away from everyone. It wouldn't have been a good idea to mention to her that their father's death had made the front page.

"That'll be fine." Helen assured her sister. Helen got off the bed and walked to the door before turning to her sister once again.

"Breakfast is ready." She told her youngest sibling before closing the door on her way out. Alex nodded to herself. The classes where important to her, not only for the reasons Helen thought, but also because she felt like she needed to know how to fight. She didn't look it, but she was fairly strong. She could have taken on most of the boys her age and won.

Alex pulled on the black dress, noting to herself that it was now, not only her prom dress, but her mourning dress. Another sigh escaped her as she pondered her father's death. It was depressing, yes, but at least now they didn't have to go behind his back to look for their real parents.

She brushed her hair, and pulled it back into a plait, so it was out of her way. When she got home, she'd watch a horror film to relax. She knew that most people wouldn't watch a horror film for relaxation, but then, Alex wasn't really known for being normal. It was like second nature for her, almost as if she was researching something. She'd even taken a mythology course in college.

Stacy and Helen were already at the table when she got there, eating some puffs that had been in the freezer. Alex sat down and took one off a plate in the middle. She wasn't really all that hungry, but she knew she had to eat. After forcing one of the pastries down her throat, she pulled out some juice. Alex poured three glasses, one for each of them. She had been raised with manners, after all. Helen and Stacy nodded their thanks.

After they were done eating, not that it took long, by unspoken agreement they all began to clean the house. Alex found herself vacuuming the floors before everyone came in. She didn't want people to think they were incapable, and was fairly sure she felt the same as her sisters when it came to that.

Soon after they were done, the people started arriving. There were a lot, most of them strangers to Alex. Some of the people were her sister's friends. She knew most of them, but had precious few of them herself. Being in a family where you weren't related to anyone, but with your siblings also in the same boat, made you fairly close. To Alex, that was all she needed.

Most of the people she didn't know were her father's work mates. Or just co-workers. It was then that Alex realised that she didn't know what her father did for a living. She knew he did irregular hours, and that he got good pay, but she had no idea what exactly it was.

As person after person came forward, Alex got more and more sick of people saying 'I'm sorry for your loss' or 'your farther was a great man' or anything similar. She just wanted them to go talk to someone else.

She began to hang with her sisters more and more exclusively, not able to handle the mass of people. Stacy directed people to the kitchen with their food. Alex wondered who came up with the idea to give a mourning family food, as though that made anyone feel better. Helen listened to everyone's stories of their father. Some even started to talk about how he'd never married, and how it was such a shame.

Alex had just decided that she was going to punch the next person who offered a shallow consolation, when two men approached her. Like most of them, Alex had no idea who they were, but she was more at ease with the sight of them. They noticed her, and walked forward.

One of them, the shortest, but still the eldest, had short brown hair and dark green eyes. He looked sorry to be here, almost as though he'd been to too many grief stricken houses.

The other one was taller, had darker hair and brown puppy dog eyes. He had a comforting air about him, one that made Alex strangely glad he was here. It was bizarre, she thought, that she felt closer to a stranger then she had to her father.

"Hi, I'm Sam." The taller one shook Alex's hand and gestured to the man at his side. "This is my brother, Dean."

Dean stepped forward and took Alex's hand, like Sam had. "I'm sorry for your loss." Dean murmured. Alex couldn't take it anymore. She pulled her arm back and smiled as she felt the impact on his face.

_

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_

A/N: Ok, for those who are waiting to the marriage bells, they're not happening between Alex and Dean or Alex and Sam. Or anyone at this point. Just making that one clear. NO ROMANCE HAPPENING HERE, GUYS.


	5. Alex

**Defiance**

Courtesy of another of Sam's death visions, the Winchesters are on the hunt again. This time, though, it's different. They know that the daughter killed her father. They know she's dangerous, her telekinetic powers well beyond those of Max. There's just one problem. They don't know which one of the girls killed him.

**

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Alex

The punch, although almost silent, called everyone's attention. Dean reeled back, surprised by the force behind it, and that it'd happened in the first place. Sam, although shocked, quickly hid a smile, and got ready to stop his brother from attacking the girl.

He quickly assessed the girl. She looked almost his age, standing a bit above average hight for girls. she'd been smiling when the punch had impacted but it was relaced by shock in a heartbeat. Her eyes flickered around to the startled looks she was getting and something passed over her face. Before Sam could recognise it, however, it was gone, and she was speaking.

"Don't worry. That's just my friend. He said something that was supposed to be funny." She said loudly. Dean was the first of the brothers to take advantage of the situation.

"Yeah. I should have realised." Dean swallowed before going on. "I'm sorry."

Sam was shocked. It was hard to get him to say sorry, nearly impossible, he would have said. And here he was, saying sorry for something he hadn't even done. He turned back to the girl with difficulty.

"Come on." She motioned for the boys to follow her and the crowd parted around her and the boys. Dean wondered what exactly he'd done to deserve that, but he'd wait to ask. After all, she'd just given them the best cover she could have. They'd have a good reason to talk to the rest of the family, he reasoned. For all that, it was the best punch he'd ever received. Not that he liked getting punched.

The boys followed her into her room, given way by the fact that her bed was in there. She quickly pulled her hair down, and shook it out, muttering something unintelligible. Sam had the feeling it was something about her hair as she seemed to be more relaxed.

"What was that for?" Dean asked when she turned back to them. The girl grinned sheepishly at him, a blush colouring her cheeks.

"I'm sorry. I'm just sick of people saying they're sorry." She grimaced at her wording. Sam tried to hold back a laugh, failed and turned it into a coughing fit. Dean sent him a look, clearly telling him to shut it, and made him laugh even harder. It just had to be Dean to have said the last sorry. It couldn't have been anyone else. It was one of the first times he'd heard Dean say that, and he wasn't sure if he would again.

"What's your name?" Sam finally asked, once the laughing fit was over. He was fairly sure that he'd fooled no one, so he was glad to turn the attention away from him. The girl looked up at them with some interest.

"So, remind me how you know my dad." She responded. Dean nudged his brother in annoyance. He just had to go and get the girl curious on them, didn't he? Dean ran a hand through his hair.

"We worked with him." Dean told her with all the confidence he could muster up. The girl raised her eye brows at him. Suddenly, Dean had a bad feeling about his story. This girl noticed things, and she'd probably picked something out that didn't sound right. He really didn't like how this was going.

"Oh, really?" the girls words had a sarcastic side to them. Dean shifted uncomfortably next to his brother. He was now seriously regretting not grabbing the pastor uniforms they'd worn to the last telekinetic's house. "You work with my dad? Then explain to me how they all know the difference between me and my sisters, when they haven't us either?" the girl glared at them both.

"We're new. We haven't really talked to him much." Sam saved. He knew Dean was practically sweating from the close call, and he knew they couldn't keep the pretence up for much longer. Although all of the family had developed the acting skills and quick thinking that the job required, he knew it was no match for facts.

"Ok, I'll just go ask his boss." The girl nodded to them and began to walk to the door. He knew that he could try and call it as a bluff, but if it wasn't, it would be disastrous. They could confess up about what they really were, but this girl was one of their suspects. Or they could come up with another story, one with the same holes as the last one.

"So, what are you gonna tell them about punching me?" Dean threw in. Sam wanted to breathe a sigh of relief at his brother's question as the girl turned to face them. She met them with a hard stare. The silence stretched for a few minuets. The boys got uncomfortable again.

"Alex. I'm Alex." The girl, Alex, answered. the boys sighed in relief again as they seemed to be safe once again. Alex sighed and walked over to her bed, sitting on it, her back resting on the wall, her legs pulled against her chest. The brothers shared a look, neither of them knowing what to do now.

"I was adopted." The bother's shared at look at the words. Sam had remembered the girl in the vision asking for her real farther. Before they could act, though, Alex continued. "We all were. As far as we know, we were all adopted at an early age, but I wouldn't know. I'm the youngest of my sisters. Helen's the oldest. I used to think I was related to her." Alex had been talking to her feet, but now she looked up in time to see the brother's shared look.

"I had blond hair at the time." She explained. Then she shook her head at herself. "I'm sorry. I just met you. I shouldn't be loading it all on you." She smiled, and walked to the door. "You guys should get going."

Sam's head was really beginning to spin from the changes in emotion this girl was going through. She'd seemed fine, a little shell shocked, maybe, when they first saw her. Then she'd been annoyed, and punched Dean, being happy about the hit, before being guilty about it and finally fine with it to get her ass out of trouble. And that had only been in the first five minutes.

"So, you're just going to drop all pretences and act like you don't know us?" Sam questioned Alex as he walked to the door. Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed Dean throwing something white onto her bed. Alex didn't seem to have noticed, as she'd been looking at Sam, thinking about his question.

"No. I'll walk to the door with you, and see you off. I won't blow your cover as long as you don't blow mine." She answered. Dean nodded at his brother, a slight movement of his head that he'd have missed if he hadn't been watching for it. Sam understood it, knowing instinctively that he was ready to go.

"Deal." Sam held his hand out to Alex, wanting to make sure she couldn't break her word. She took it without hesitation, locking gaze with the youngest brother. After a second, they both let go, and turned to the door. They all fixed smiles on their faces before walking into the lounge room.

As Sam had expected, most people turned to look at him, or at least glanced at the trio of people as they headed to the door. Some people only noticed them when everyone else went quite. A quick glance at Alex told him that she was already acting like there was nothing different.

Once they reached the door, Sam had almost reached breaking point. Alex still seemed non the wiser that people were watching, and Dean seemed his usually cocky self, somehow radiating that it was fine to stare at him in appreciation. Alex opened the door for the boys and smiled at them. To Sam it seemed like it was a complicated dance, perfectly choreographed.

"See-ya, Alex." Sam waved to her as he walked to the car. Dean was a few steps behind him, and stoped, as though a thought just occurred to him.

"Alex, why don't you pop around tonight?" he asked. Alex smiled at him. Sam had the feeling she was trying not to laugh, although, he wasn't sure if that was the affect she wanted, her real feelings or a combination of both.

"Sorry to disappoint you Dean, but I've got classes." She called back with a smile. Dean smiled back. It seemed she could play the game just as well as he could. Give a half answer that didn't answer anything really.

"Oh, yeah. Sorry, I always forget." Dean nodded to Alex as he turned back to the car. Sam nodded at him to show he agreed with the idea to try talk to her one-on-one.

They both got into the car; Dean carefully pulled out and headed to their room in the motel.

Sam thought about the girl they'd just met. Alex was interesting, he thought. She was willing to help people, if they helped her. She was also, he noticed, observant. He had a feeling she was a little insecure, but he had no idea why he thought that. She'd given them no indication of that, on the contrary, she seemed to be very trusting.

"Sam!" Dean's voice pulled him out of his thoughts. The way Dean had said his name, and the fact that Dean now looking at him said that wasn't the first time that he'd called for his brother. Sam met his brother's questioning gaze.

"Yeah." Dean looked at Sam suspiciously. It was obvious that something was on his little brother's mind. He didn't look like he wanted to talk about it, though, so he moved onto the thing he'd been calling his brother for.

"I was asking, what did you make of her?" Dean asked after a few seconds. He turned back to the road when it was obvious that Sam was going to answer the question.

"You mean, do I think she killed her farther?" Sam answered. He knew how to read between the lines that Dean drew. It wasn't hard, after all. He'd known him for most his life. After being in constant contact with his brother for six months, with no other constant companions had pulled them together again.

"Sure." Dean answered the question, although didn't really know if his brother was waiting for an answer.

"I don't know Dean. She seemed pretty cut up about he dad's death." Sam considered that it may have been the cause of Alex's radical changes in emotion. It wasn't everyday someone just decided to kill another, let alone a family member. Generally, they just severed all ties to them, and moved interstate, wherever possible.

Just as he'd done. And look where it'd gotten him.

"What I want to know is: who is she?" Sam knew the question was rhetorical, but he also knew how his brother thought, to a point.

"You think dad may have come across her parents?" Sam asked. Dean shrugged. It was possible. They were looking for a human, one with telekinetic powers. The upside was they had managed to cut it down to three people. The bad part was they had no idea which of the three it could be. Truthfully, they'd only talked to one of them, but it hadn't been very insightful.

"What do we do now, Sammy?" Dean used his brother's hated nick name for the fun of it. He was getting bored, but that was fairly obvious. Sam wondered if he considered anything fun, aside from the obvious, annoying him and killing supernatural things.

"It's _Sam." _Dean laughed at the expected response before listening to the other part. "I was thinking about these classes of Alex's. She's obviously really got them, so what are they?" Dean raised an eyebrow at Sam.

"How do you know they're real?" he questioned. Sam looked at his brother. He was surprised that he knew more then his brother, but then, he knew Dean didn't like hunting people. The supernatural was easer. He understood that. The supernatural had patterns, weaknesses. Although, most the time, they were more dangerous then people, they were easer to predict. They were creatures of habit, enslaved to their instincts.

"If they weren't real, she wouldn't have yelled out about them in front of everyone else." Sam answered his brother easily, and a bit smugly, although he tried to stop that coming through. Dean noticed it, but didn't begrudge his brother that. They'd been like that for a while now, it wasn't like Dean didn't do it right back.

"Ok genius, what are the classes?" Dean shot back.

"I don't know but I sure as hell intend to find out."

_

* * *

_

A/N: A big thanks to Havz, mrs. sam winchester, artzegrrl6 and VeekaIzhanez!

till next time

Kia

-Jasper's Imaginary Friend


	6. One Down, Two to Go

**Defiance**

Courtesy of another of Sam's death visions, the Winchesters are on the hunt again. This time, though, it's different. They know that the daughter killed her father. They know she's dangerous, her telekinetic powers well beyond those of Max. There's just one problem. They don't know which one of the girls killed him.

**

* * *

**

One Down, Two to Go

"Ok, this is defiantly the last time he gets to follow the girl." Dean growled. He'd once again called John, and, even though he and Sam knew he was fine, he still didn't answer. It was still the answering machine that'd been on it for some time now. _If the is an emergency, call my son, Dean… _

He walked over to the TV, and switched it on. It wasn't like there was going to be anything on. Most people where happy with the 'everyday' dramas that had people getting pregnant, amnesia, cheating and going crazy. They were, in his opinion, the most idiotic shows, and he wondered why others watched them. They could get all that drama from their lives, without others adding to it.

He wondered briefly what it would be like for that kind of thing to be his worst problem. Not to have to worry about whether holy water and salt could harm it. Or if the death in the paper was normal or not. He sighed and scratched the back of his head. He wouldn't get far with that kind of thinking.

As he didn't really want to watch the news, he flipped the TV off and collected things from the Impala's trunk. Mostly things that he and Sam hadn't used in a while. They probably didn't need cleaning, but he'd prefer to clean something that didn't need cleaning then have it break when he needed it.

As the clock ticked the time away and he cleaned more and more weapons, Dean wondered absent-mindedly what Sam was up to.

* * *

Sam carefully drove a few cars behind Alex. The stolen car was different to what he was used to, but he worked it out quickly. After all, a car was a car. He knew Dean would disagree. But then, Sam had never met anyone that looked after their car so well. Dean loved that car. He wasn't sure that if, god forbid, the 1967 Chevrolet Impala did get into a crash, Dean would let a mechanic work on it. He'd probably just stay somewhere and work until it was done, and that was saying something.

Alex's car made a right turn, and Sam made the same one, hoping to get at least one car between him and Alex. No one else turned between them. He noticed anther car, coming out of their drive, though, and slowed to let them on the road before him.

After much of this, Sam finally eased the car to the curb. The door opened with a few creeks, but Sam slipped silently into the shadows, hiding in them. He wasn't sure how well it worked, but Alex didn't give a shout of alarm or come running over. That was something, Sam thought.

He watched as she walked into the hall, full of others before understanding dawned on him. Alex went to the bathrooms to change into the uniform, and Sam was surprised to see she wore a black belt. The classes she was talking about were martial art, although he didn't yet know which one. He'd learnt a few on the road, all from his farther or brother. They hadn't really stayed in one spot long enough to actually go to classes.

He would have enjoyed the classes more, he though, as he watched. Dean had just used more and more complex moves that he'd learned. Sam would have to try work out how they were done, avoid them and use it on Dean. All they did was fight, not learn any technic. Now, he watched the class warm up and separate into groups, learning their training. The instructors went through the movements step by step, so everyone knew what to do. Then he had them show him how to do it, step by step, so he could correct them. Finally, they executed it on others there, on mat.

Alex as one of the instructors there, was helping the kids learn to do things properly. She was with the smaller kids, patiently showing them how to do it. She seemed to be teaching them how to punch for their hight, kick with power and properly block. After a while of this, they all lined up and did a pattern. They all did the same thing, and he could tell she prompted them so they would do it at the same time. Their movements were a bit clumsy and unsure, but she corrected any mistakes. They all did it in the shape of an 'I', following the same pattern, never breaking it: a block left, a stepping punch, spin around with a block, another stepping punch, block left, three stepping punches, block right, one stepping punch, spin, another stepping punch, block left, three stepping punches, block right, one stepping punch, spin, block, one stepping punch.

After an hour, they went back to the large group they'd been in before, with everyone there. They went through some kicks, punches and blocks before they cooled down, bowed and said goodnight. Sam walked to his car, got in and waited for Alex to pass. He had to wait for another few to go before he could pull in, but that'd been what he wanted.

He followed her back to her house. Helen was at the door, waving to her. A smile crept onto his face as he watched, happy for the girls. They had each other, they could comfort themselves. The killer probably didn't need comfort, but she gave it. Whoever she was.

* * *

Dean looked up from the gun he was cleaning as Sam walked in. He didn't look worried, meaning that nothing bad had happened, but then, he wasn't ecstatic, meaning that he still had no idea who killed the farther. Dean went back to cleaning the gun.

"Martial arts." Sam said. Dean looked up again, rasing an eyebrow.

"Excuse me?" Dean asked. He wasn't sure his if brother was going insane, wanting to fight or join a club. He had no idea why exactly he was mentioning martial arts.

"Alex's classes? They're martial art classes." Sam answered.

"Right." Dean nodded his head. He remembered now. Although, he mused that neither of them had talked to the other sisters. Sam was usually the one who was the sucker for details. Sam's obsession with Alex was starting to scare Dean. Sam normally had a reason for doing things, but right now, he was running blind.

"She's a black belt." Sam continued. Dean's eyebrows rose again.

"A black belt?" Dean repeated. He let out a whistle when Sam nodded. "That'll be fun." Dean smiled at Sam, as Sam walked away, disgusted. He was fairly sure that Sam knew he was joking, but if he didn't Dean wasn't about to correct him.

* * *

Sam's headache was getting worse. He walked to the bathroom to splash cold water on his face when it reached breaking point. He fell back, hitting the wall as images crowded into his head.

_He recognised the room. It was Alex's lounge. He couldn't see anyone there, though. The TV was on, but it wasn't making any sound. The sound of giggling in the hall was followed by the door closing. The sound came closer._

_Stacy came into view, very obviously concentrating on the boy with her. Their mouths looked like they'd been welded together, and they were franticly trying to get rid of anything in the way of their naked bodies._

"_Stacy!" the voice rang out and instantly destroyed the mood of the couple in the door way, shattering the pieces and burning the shards._

_Stacy whipped around, her flushed cheeks rising in colour as she realised she'd been caught. Her hair was out, and messed, tangles running all though it. Her lipstick was smeared across her face, her clothes half off._

"_What are you doing home?" Stacy demanded, although it was obvious that she knew she wasn't the one in control._

"_You should go now." The male paled at the venom in the voice and back away._

"_Y-yeah. I just remembered. I've got something I've got to do. Away from here." He nodded to himself as he practically ran to the door in his flight to get away from whoever was in the room._

_The two people left in the room listened to the door open and close, and then the sound of the car screech as the boy begged it to get him out of there as fast as it could._

"_What were you _doing_?" the other girl in the room growled. She sounded completely and utterly pissed._

"_What did it look like I was doing? I was having fun! You should try it some time." Stacy growled back._

"_Really? Oh, that's a relief. You should try your hand at acting, because I must have mistaken you as a slut!"_

"_Excuse me?" Stacy gasped. He eyes were as wide as saucers, bugging out of her head._

"_You heard me. You were celebrating that dad's death, weren't you?"_

"_Sorry, but I don't see you hiding in you room, refusing to talk to anyone. I'm just moving on with my life, the way I _should._" Stacy had now gone from shocked to angry. It was as plain as day to see. She was now standing high, her eyes flashing at her sister, showing her refusal to back down._

"_Well I'm glad as hell that I'm not you. If everyone lived the way you think we should, we'd be swamped with children and we'd all die young." Stacy looked like she'd been slapped. Sam could see the exact moment that she went from angry to livid_

"_You know what?" he voice was low now, very different from the shouting that'd been going on before. "I wouldn't be surprised if you were the one who killed dad." Her voice was laced with poison, her words dripping with it._

"_What?" the other girl's voice was low now too, but not full of hate. Hers shook, as though someone was shaking her voice box as she talked._

"_You were the one that took being adopted the worst. You were the one constantly asking him about your real parents."_

"_Yeah, I was the youngest. I thought I had more of a chance with them." Her voice sounded close to tears now. _

"_He always loved me more, and you knew it. If he was going to tell anyone who their parents were, it wasn't going to be you." These, Sam knew, were words you never said to anyone. Not unless you really hated them. Not unless there was nothing good between you. Because once they were said, you could never take them back._

"_That's not true!" the other girl cried. Stacy was slowly and painfully breaking down this girl's armour._

"_You were his least favourite. You probably got so sick of it, and you just snapped."_

"_I would never hurt him, and you know it!" she was getting some of her strength back. He voice didn't sound so shaky, and it carried more conviction._

"_If you just called the police and told them what happened, you'd be in jail. You didn't want that. All you wanted was your precious real mummy and daddy. Maybe you killed him so you could find them easier."_

"_NO!" Stacy was dragged into the room, and pinned on the wall. Other things seemed to be picked up, and flung around the room. "I would never hurt dad." Stacy's arms came up and clawed at her throat. Her struggles held less and less strength as the time passed, and eventually her eyes rolled back into her head, and her body went limp._

_Her body made a sickening thud as it hit the floor._

* * *

"Sammy?" Dean called as he heard his brother hit the wall in the bathroom. He got up, the gun he was cleaning forgotten as he moved to help Sam. His heart rate accelerated when he got no response from Sam.

He reached the room, and noticed Sam lying on the wall where he'd fallen. Dean quickly scanned the room, making sure that no one else was there before he knelt to help Sam. Sam moaned he looked at him, his eyes darting around under their lids.

Dean shook his brother a few times, calling his name. Getting no response, Dean he carefully picked him up and carried him to one of the beds. Sam started shaking when he got there, and Dean quickly grabbed a towel, wet it and placed it on his brother's forehead. He was really sacred now. If Sam had been cursed or something, he had no idea what he could do.

He sat on the bed next to him to watch and make sure he was ok. It wasn't long before Sam woke up, gasping.

"Sam! Sammy, you ok?" Dean practically lunged forward in his haste to make sure his brother wasn't going to die before his eyes, and he jerked to a stop as though he'd come to the end of his lead when Sam looked at him.

Sam's eyes were slightly haunted, and his body was covered in sweat. He was panting slightly, as though he'd just come back from a run. Dean had seen the look, not many times, but enough to know what it was. He'd never seen Sam react so violently, either. They were getting more powerful.

"Another precognition?" Dean asked, although he was fairly sure he already knew the answer. Sam nodded and Dean gave him some time to collect his thoughts.

"So, what'd you find out?" Dean asked when Sam calmed.

"One thing's for sure." Dean nodded, to tell Sam to continue. "Stacy's not the killer."

_

* * *

_

A/N: I had to put this up today! Just for those who don't know, today, the 21 of June, is the shortest day in 2010. Cool, huh? Very Supernatural. I thought it was the perfect opportunity, anyway. Another big thanks to Havz, mrs. sam winchester, artzgrrl6 and VeekaaIzhanez

kia

-Jasper's Imaginary Friend


	7. Spill It

**Defiance**

Courtesy of another of Sam's death visions, the Winchesters are on the hunt again. This time, though, it's different. They know that the daughter killed her father. They know she's dangerous, her telekinetic powers well beyond those of Max. There's just one problem. They don't know which one of the girls killed him.

**

* * *

**

Spill it

"Stacy's not the killer."

"What? So, who is?" Dean cried. Sam jumped off the bed and ran to the door. Dean took a second to collect his thoughts before he went charging after his brother. Sam had already jumped into the driver's seat, waiting for Dean to give him the keys. Dean sild in next to him, tossed the set across the seats before Sam got it into his head to try jump start the Impala.

"Sammy, what'd you see?" Dean pressed his brother as they sped down the road. Sam spared Dean a glance as the road flew by under the wheels. His breath had evened out, but the echo of the migraine was still there, thankfully, reduced to a dull throb in his skull. He was sure that if the piercing pain lasted more then a few seconds, he would pass out. The pain peeked just as the visions started, and dropped as soon as they came back, but it was still painful. The visions seemed to dull the pain as he 'lived' those moments in time.

"The Stacy girl. She'll be killed by the same person who killed their dad." Sam answered the worried gaze his brother was throwing at him. The sight of Stacy, crumpled on the ground filled his mind as he said the words; her eyes rolled back, mouth open, gasping for air. He shook his head to clear the image as he registered Dean asking another question.

"So, how do we know this is the same killer?" Dean cried. He was sure that if Sam just told him what happened, he wouldn't have to ask these questions. He knew he probably annoyed Sam with these questions, but he had to know what was going on. He needed to know what was going through his head to be able to help his little brother. He'd had that once, and he wanted it have the knowledge again.

Sam looked at his brother, remembering the vision, trying to put it into perspective for his brother. "Ok, umm… it was Alex's lounge room. I didn't see anyone there. They were watching the TV, but it was on mute."

_Stacy came into view, very obviously concentrating on the boy with her. _Once again, Sam pushed the images out of his head, trying to stop the images from adding to his collection of scars. If someone could see the damage his brain had taken, they would find little space that wasn't criss-crossed with the repaired tissue.

"Come on, Sam." Dean called his brother back into the real world. Sam nodded as he tried to continue with what had happened.

"Stacy came home with a boy. She wasn't expecting anyone to be home. The killer didn't like it. She seemed to think it was a disgrace to their dad's memory, or something. Stacy didn't see a problem with it. They argued, and Stacy said some things." Sam shuddered as he remembered the argument. He hoped he never got into a fight like that with Dean. They had some arguments, but nothing like that had been. He doubted either of them actually meant what they were saying; they were just dealing with their grief.

"So, the other girl just broke her neck?" Dean asked. Sam knew he was prompting him for the story, and he was thankful for it, in a way. It got his thoughts out of the rut they got into some times.

"No. She was choked." Sam answered. He heard the sound of Stacy's limp body hit the floor again. They drove the rest of the way in silence, neither of them wanting to talk. They both knew they were thinking about Max. He'd killed his dad, uncle and tried to kill his step mother. He'd almost killed Dean while he was at it, too. Sam finally managed to stop him from killing, but Max committed suicide before anyone could stop him.

Sam looked at the parallels. Telekinetic. They both killed their family. But he wasn't sure of this girl meant to kill them. She'd been pushed, both times. He wasn't even sure if she really wanted to harm them. He knew the one time he'd used telekinesis, it'd been out of desperation, a strong emotion. Maybe that was all.

But those were all just a bunch of maybes. Maybe his dad was dead. Maybe the visions would stop. Maybe he'd be killed on their next hunt. He didn't really know. But one thing was for damn sure. He would find out who did this, and he would find out why.

They pulled up out the front of the house, the car barley stopping before the brothers were sprinting to the door, guns in hand. Dean was first, kicking the door as he went, trying his best to stop another death. If he could. Right behind him, Sam checked the other rooms, in case they'd moved. He nearly ran into Dean when he stopped. He shoved past him, eyes finding Stacy on their own.

She was slumped on the wall, tangled hair tumbling over her face. The room around her was a reck, everything flung around the room, broken in some way. The lounge fallen, the chair had large rips in it. The table was on the other wall, smashed into splinters.

It only took him a second to take it all in before he turned around, facing Dean again.

"We need to get out of here." Dean nodded before, once again, leading the way out. They left the door ajar, knowing it would just add to the crime scene. They both jumped into the car, Dean driving, pulling away from the house like- well, like it was a scene of a crime. If anyone had seen them, they knew the Impala would be a dead dive away for them, if they knew the model. They also knew that they would get the blame for killing the girl inside. Two men run into a house and run out of it, the girl's dead and there are signs of a struggle. There was no way anyone would see it differently.

"Great, just great. We've got another psychotic telekinetic on the loose." Dean growled.

"Dean, I'm not sure she meant to hurt them." Sam defended. He didn't know who it was, but he was fairly sure he'd snap like that with the argument they girls had been having. The one with the dad would have been going on for years. Slow anger was just as bad- if not worse- as the fast anger that came with the argument.

"Right, and poltergeists are the most friendly things I've ever met." Dean shot back.

"Dean, both times, she was pushed"

"Yeah, and so was Max, but I don't see you defending him too much right now."

"Dean, there's no point defending him. He's dead and he wanted to kill them."

"And this girl wants to kill them too. Sam, there's no difference!" Dean growled at his little brother, willing him to see his side. He never did. He knew Sam was his own person, and he didn't take orders from anyone. Unlike him. There was one person he could never say no to and everyone knew it.

"Dean, Max thought about it. He planned his family's deaths. This girl, who ever she is, isn't planning them. They just happen in the moment." Sam looked back at his brother, knowing he wouldn't agree. If they killed, and they knew about it, it wouldn't matter to him. If they had a reason that wasn't self defence, they were guilty of murder.

The rest of the ride back to the motel was silent. Well, as silent as it could get in the Impala, with Dean's music blasting the crap out of their ears. Neither of the brothers wanted to back down, both planning how to do things their own way.

Sam immediately turned in, pulling up the covers and falling asleep. Dean stayed up, planning how he could get Sam to see that killing the girl was the only way. When they found out who it was, of corse. He knew it wouldn't wake Sam, so he switched on the TV, hoping it was late enough for something half decent to be on.

_

* * *

_

The area was familiar. He'd been there only once before, and the figure had been there then too. It wasn't a room, or scenery. Well, as far as Sam was concerned, it wasn't really anywhere. It was a dream, nothing more, nothing less.

_He looked at the figure again. He could make out more details this time. Her hair was wavy, dark, like he'd seen before. Her skin was tanned, not too much, but slightly. He could make out her brown eye colour, but little else of her face. It as though the more he saw in this dream world, the better he could see her. He wondered absent mindedly if they would have any better chance at answering questions, but discarded the idea as crazy. There were generally rules in these things._

"Hi"_ the girl called out to him again. She waved at him, and Sam somehow knew she was smiling. He waved back at her, a smile on his face. He didn't know what he was supposed to do here. All he knew was that there was a girl in his dreams now, and he had no idea how she was._

"_You don't happen to be able to say your name now, can you?" Sam asked. He watched as the girl opened her mouth to answer, and how she seemed to shudder. She shrugged at him, as though to ask why._

"Nah. I wish."_ She answered. Sam nodded his understanding. He didn't know what else to do, so he began to walk. The girl in front of him noticed that and began to walk as well. They both walked, feet padding on the white space that seemed to be ground, but could easily been a wall, ceiling or water for all they could make out. There was no sound, as they walked, but they eventually reached the middle and stood a few meters away from each other. _

_The girl's features were still clouded, but he at lease knew her approximate hight now. She was slightly above average, and Sam had a strange flash of when Alex had punched Dean. He noticed she was squinting at him. Trying to see him properly?_

"_Can you see me?" he asked. He knew the girl was looking at him like he was stupid, but he had no idea how, as he couldn't see her very well._

"Of corse I can see you, idiot. You're just blurry."_ She answered. Sam nodded, knowing what she meant. They both looked at each other, and Sam had a sudden inspiration. He ran quickly to the girl, ad reached out his hand, intending to grab her wrist. His hand passed through, and he felt his skin tingle where it went through her's. The girl snatched her hand back and stepped away from him._

"_Sorry." Sam told her. She nodded to him and rubbed her wrist with her other hand. She then looked up at him, her dark eyes piecing his._

"So, what do we do now?"_ the girl asked. It was an unexpected question, and Sam had no answer. He shrugged at the girl, who seemed to consider her options. _"Tell me about you life." _She declared after a while. Sam gaped at her, as though she'd lost her mind. In reality, she could have._

"_Are you insane?" he asked her. She girl shook her head at him._

"Uh-uh." _She told him. _"Tell me about your life first."_ The girl look levelly at him, and waited. Sam considered it. He could tell her about his life, only keep it to the story he and Dean used. He was going on a road trip with his brother. Or he could tell her about what he really did, hunting the evil in the world, killing the supernatural._

"_My brother and I are hunters." He blurted out suddenly. He had no idea where the confession came from, but he continued. "We don't hunt the normal things, like deer or pigs or anything like that…" Sam continued to tell this strange girl about who he was and what he did. When he was done, she asked about the things he hunted. He told her about spirits, women in white, werewolves, witches and zombies. He told her about how his mother had died, and the little he knew about demons._

_When he was done, they began to compare the real thing to movies and books. It was fun, he thought, something he'd never done before. They compared real vampires to ones they'd seen in movies. She laughed at it all, never seeming to think he was crazy or scared that there was a whole other world she'd never heard of. But then, if she didn't know about it, she would think this was just any other dream, and by asking him if she was crazy, she'd be asking herself._

"Do werewolves actually turn into wolves, or are they just big, scary, furry people?"_ she asked. Sam looked at her, wondering where this was coming from. She must have read the question in his eyes, because she shrugged at him. _"Wolves are my favourite animals."_ She answered. He nodded at her, before running his hand through his hair._

"_Werewolves are vicious and blood thirsty. They look like people, mostly, apart from their nails, teeth and the wild look in their eyes. Their nails change into something closer to claws and their teeth become larger and one hell of a lot sharper. The only known way to kill one is a silver bullet through the heart." Sam answered. She nodded, and like everything else, seemed to just take it in her stride._

_They continued to talk for a long time, until Sam finally felt his eyes grow heavy. He knew what was happening, so he said goodbye to the girl, and lied down, closing his eyes._

* * *

Sam woke in the apartment, a grin on his face. He had to admit to himself. That'd been one of the best dreams he'd ever had.

_A/N: Another big thanks to Havz, mrs. sam winchester, artzgrrl6 and VeekaaIzhanez _

_kia_

_-Jasper's Imaginary Friend_

_P.S. I would love some reviews_


	8. Somewhere to Belong

**Defiance**

Courtesy of another of Sam's death visions, the Winchesters are on the hunt again. This time, though, it's different. They know that the daughter killed her father. They know she's dangerous, her telekinetic powers well beyond those of Max. There's just one problem. They don't know which one of the girls killed him.

* * *

**Somewhere to belong**

By the time Dean was up, Sam had gotten them both coffees, knowing that Dean would be craving the brown liquid. By an unspoken agreement, neither of them mentioned how they wanted to do this case. They knew that would just lead to an argument, and they wouldn't be able to keep an eye on the other and stop them from going about it their way.

Eventually, they both found themselves in the car, following the route to Alex's. The car was silent, not even Dean's usual music playing. There weren't many cars around the house when they arrived. The curb directly in front of the house was taken, but that was about it. Not many people would go to a grieving household twice in a row. Even if it was for different people.

Sam got out of the car, noticing the police pulling away from the curb. He somehow felt as though another consciousness, another mind, was next to his. As though, if he reached out, he could… what? He asked himself. Grasp it? He shook his head and did his best to ignore the feeling.

This time, unlike yesterday, the door was closed. Sam shared a look with Dean, shrugged his shoulders and knocked. Helen answered the door, eyes red rimmed and dark bags under her eyes. Her hair was down, in a large tangled mess, instead of the perfect straight it had been the day before. Her face had tear tracks all over it, and she was still snuffling. She offered a watery smile at the boys before she burst into tears, crying the way she obviously had been doing before answering the door.

"Oh, hey." Dean hurried to comfort the girl, hugging her shaking body. "Shhh, hey, it's going to be OK." Helen nodded and pulled against his embrace. Dean hurriedly let her go, knowing that when someone gave you those signs, you listened, no matter what.

Helen walked into the lounge and sat among her friends. They all looked at the boys when they entered, assessing them, making their own judgments. They'd been at the house the day before; Sam recognised a few of them.

"Alex is in her room." One of the friends told them, flicking her head to Alex's door. Sam and Dean nodded their thanks before heading to in the direction the girl had aimed. Sam knocked, calling out to Alex who it was. He felt for her, almost as though it'd also been his sister who'd died. Alex opened the door and pulled Sam into a tight hug.

Sam was taken back by her appearance. Her eyes seemed to have sunken in, bags making it look like she had nasty black eyes. She was pale and cold. Her hair looked like it was being weaved into a mat, and there were tears all over her face. Her whole body shook as she clung onto Sam.

"Dean, she needs water and sugar." Sam murmured to his brother, as Alex buried her face into Sam's jacket. Dean nodded and headed back out to get her water, juice and something along the lines of an éclair. He didn't begrudge Sam telling him what to do. He wouldn't very well have been able to do any of that with Alex holding onto him like a life raft.

After asking Helen and her friends, Dean got the necessary things from the kitchen. He found a glass of juice, a bottle of water, a finger bun and made a toasted sandwich for her. He carried it all back to her room. He'd forgotten all about wanting to kill one of the girls when they were so obviously grieving.

In the mean time, Sam had gotten Alex back to her bed. She'd refused to let him go, so he sat, leaning on the wall, Alex curled, crying, on his lap. Dean sat next to them both, and handed Sam the glass of juice first. After a lot of urging, concerned orders, and crying, Alex took the glass in her shaking hands and started to drink it. By the time she was done, her eyes were clear enough for the brothers to see the haunted look in them.

More coaxing and an hour later, Alex had eaten the bun and toasted sandwich, and was sipping the bottle of water. Her breathing had evened out but both the boys doubted she was up to talking. So they stayed, comforting her in any way they could, soothing her, taking her mind off the death of her dad and sister. Although neither of them had been by blood, they were close enough to it, they were all she had. Sam was actually surprised that she wasn't hanging onto Helen with all she had.

Eventually, though, Alex's eyes slid closed, her body slumped and she began to breathe deeply. Sam and Dean took it as their cue to leave. Sam very carefully broke her grip on him and moved her into her bed, pulling her blankets up. He refilled the bottle and left it near her bed, a silent order for her to remember. When they were done, they walked out.

"I thought you were about to kiss her head, Sammy." Dean laughed at his brother. Sam's dark eyes met his, and Dean's laughter cut short. Truth be told, Dean had felt the need to take care of her just as Sam had. The feeling reminded him more and more of looking after Sam when he was young. He got into the Impala, but he didn't drive it far. It didn't matter to him that it was day; he was going to wait for the killer.

Sam was on the same page, to a point. He got to the back of the Impala, and pulled out a gun, grabbing normal, sliver and copper rounds. He was going to find out what was hurting these girls. If it was one of the girls, he would try to help them. If it was some thing else… well, that was their job. It didn't matter what it was to him, at this point, it was going down. For good measure, he also grabbed a sliver knife. He hid all theses things, and headed back the way they came, staying out of sight.

Dean followed, both slipping into the yard, silently. He, like Sam, had grabbed more ammo. But, unlike Sam, he'd also grabbed salt, gasoline, and a box of matches. He figured it might be a spirit, but Sam had never looked up deaths. He'd been so focused on the girls, not ever thinking that they might not be involved. He cursed that, knowing they should have done their research; they should have looked at every possible angle. _Should, should, should…_ but they hadn't.

They found hidden points in the yard, and both took position. The sun sunk below the horizon and the air began to get colder. Dean once again cursed their thoughtlessness. They should have brought torches.

Sam was beginning to get cramps all through his body from crouching in his chosen spot. He wanted something to happen, just so he could move. He wanted… he wasn't sure what. A werewolf to try attack him? Casper to pop in and say hi? He didn't really know. But he wanted something to happen, just so he didn't have to stay like this for the rest of the night. He wasn't sure if he'd be able to handle that. If he was here all night, he wouldn't be able to protect them in the morning. The thought terrified him.

The night moved closer and closer to the stroke of twelve.

Sam was nodding off. He knew he was, and he was fighting desperately to stay awake. He needed to be there if this family needed them. His cramped muscles had gone numb, and, although preferable to the pain he'd been experiencing beforehand, it was still annoying.

Without warning, Sam felt a sudden sense of panic and alarm. Searching for the source, he found the other consciousness, the thing he'd felt before. Without a second though, Sam began to run, not stopping when he heard Dean shout.

Dean cursed his brother and ran after him. He had no idea why he was acting like that. There had been nothing to go racing off about. There was no sign that anything was wrong.

Sam didn't slow down when he reached the door. Already broken from Dean the previous night, it didn't take much get it out of the way. He raced to the door he knew hid Alex's bed. He froze as the door swang open. There was no one there. He raced to the next door. No one was here either. The door after that held the same results. He raced to the last door, half expecting it, too, to be empty. He definitely wasn't expecting what _he found_.

It was their father's room. The picture frame of the three girls, and the clothes in the cupboard told him that. Alex had obviously woken up in her room after the brothers had left and come in here for comfort. She was in the bed, silently staring at the ceiling. Her eyes were wide, filled with horror. Her arm was stretched up, towards the ceiling. If Sam didn't look up, he might have thought it had just been a very realistic nightmare.

Her stomach bleeding, Helen was pinned to the ceiling. Her hair was spread out like a large halo around her head, as though she was lying on the floor, instead of the opposite. Her green eyes were wide and staring, laced with pain she couldn't scream about. Just as Jess had been. Just as their mother had been. A quick glance at Alex told him that she was still frozen, blood dripping down onto the bed she was lying on.

Sam ran forward, grabbed Alex and tried to drag her out of the house. Dean followed him in, Sam grabbing one shoulder to carry her, Dean grabbing the other. There was some resiance, but after a few seconds, she came fairly easily. They'd just gotten into the lounge room when the blast of fire that had once been Helen increased the heat of the house by a few hundred times. The boys continued to run, Alex now trying to run with them, throwing them slightly off balance.

They all burst out the door, and Alex crumpled to the grass, pulling the boys with her. They stayed there until the fire department arrived and moved them all out of the way. Sam stayed with Alex all the way, not knowing how she was going to deal with the death of all that she knew as family. She seemed fine, but the death grip she had on him once they were away from the house scared him.

"You have to stay." She told him. Her eyes told him of the terror that she had at the thought of him going and he quickly agreed to stay with her for a while. She relaxed a bit, but still didn't let go of him.

The fire was put out quickly, saving half the house. That half included Alex's room. She didn't seem too happy about that, but then, no one could blame her for it. After the crews were sure that the fire wasn't going to come back from the ashes, they went to Alex, Sam and Dean for answers.

"I-I don't really know. I-I just w-woke up, and they-" she indicated Sam and Dean, "were there. T-they told me that there was a fire. They g-got me out here." She told the man. He nodded and went to turn away before Alex stopped him with a question. "H-Helen, my sister. Is she in there?"The man sighed as he turned back.

"I'm sorry." He told her. Alex just nodded at him, and Sam could see she was closing down, going into shock. He grabbed her and told one of the firemen where they could find their motel. He pulled her into the back seat of the Impala with him and waited until Dean got into the front seat. They wordlessly drove back to their room, and Sam surrendered his bed to Alex. She'd been through hell these last few nights, so he could give her the small luxury of a proper bed to sleep in.

Once she was settled, Sam made himself comfy on the softest part of the floor he could find, a large jacket over the top of himself. It took him a long time to fall asleep, but when he did, the usually cheerful girl just sat with her arms thrown around herself, legs hugged to her chest. Sam tried to give her as much comfort as he could, not able to touch her.

* * *

Alex woke in a strange bed. She was slightly confused as to how she'd gotten there. Then it all came flooding back. Helen on the ceiling. The firemen. Being driven to a motel. Someone tucking her into this bed. She struggled with her breath as image after image replayed in her mind. A hole grew in her chest as she mourned the loss of her whole family.

She came back to her body with strong arms wrapped around her. Opening her eyes, she saw someone she'd known a grand total of three days. Someone who had saved her. Someone who she trusted with her life. The picture of him running into the room, seen only out of the corner of her eye as Helen stuck to the ceiling came to mind. Unlike her, he hadn't seemed to have any denial. He didn't stop to think he was crazy. He just seemed shocked to find it happening there.

Alex pulled out of the safe circle of his arms and got off the bed, her own arms crossed in front of her. She was still in her PJs, she realised: a large, stretched shirt pulled over her tiny shorts. Feeling self conscious, she noticed a jacket, and quickly slipped into it, hiding herself before turning back to Sam with her arms crossed. Dean stood with him, next to the bed, amusement radiating out of every pore.

"What was it?" she demanded of them. Dean instantly went from laughing to on guard, and Sam went from curious to wary. Sam got off the bed and went to stand with his brother.

"Alex, it was a fire." Sam told her, his voice soft, concerned.

"Don't give me that crap!" she growled at them both. "Helen was on the roof!" Sam and Dean shared a look before turning back to her. Once again, Sam did the talking.

"A demon." Sam corrected himself.

"Helen's no demon!" Alex cried. "If anyone is, it's me." he voice was so soft, Sam barely caught it. She obviously wasn't happy about what she'd done. Her whole body language said plainly that she was sad about it. She was looking at her feet, and her shoulders were hunched as though she was expecting to be hit. Sam and Dean once again shared a look. An understanding passed between them: Alex had killed her family, but she hadn't done it purposefully.

"A demon killed Helen." Sam told her. Alex looked up at them.

"Tell me about them." Alex insisted.

"You should sit down." Sam told her. Alex obediently sat on the bed, and Sam began to tell her. He knew he couldn't just tell her about demons. That would raise more questions, like, how and why did they know that. So it was just easier to tell her the whole thing. No one would believe her if she recounted it to anyone else, so they were safe on that account. It just wasn't something they normally did. So Sam started with the death of their mum, a brief story about their 'childhood', before telling her about Jess and hunting.

Alex sat silently though it all, never looking surprised, apart from at the beginning. Occasionally, she nodded to herself, though, and she smiled at him, as though she knew something he didn't. Once he'd told her about their life, he told her what he knew of demons. It wasn't much, but it was all he knew. Once he was done, Alex smiled and looked up at them, saying two words.

"I'm in." she told them. Dean reacted first.

"Hell no, you're not!" he told her, stepping towards her to emphasize his point. Alex's eye brows rose.

"Hell yes, I am." She growled right back at him. "I'm in whether you want me or not. I already know a little about the supernatural."

"Yeah, right. Listen, Alex. The horror films are so wrong, it's funny. What ever you think you know, you don't." Dean growled at her. Alex sent him an evil grin.

"I know about werewolves, vampires, spirits and witches." Alex growled back. Before Dean could deny her any further, she stated some basic facts about them. Dean stood speechless for a few seconds.

"I don't care." He growled back at her. "I don't particularly want to have to baby sit while I'm hunting. You wouldn't even be able to defend yourself for five seconds." Sam noticed that Alex's eyes brightened at this. He was honestly torn between leaving Alex and bringing her with them. He wanted her with them, but he knew it wasn't a smart idea. Sam still couldn't shake the thought, but he knew Dean would never go for it.

"If I can beat you in a fight, say… pin you for thirty seconds, I get to come with you. I'll just get some things from my house, and make a few arrangements before we set off." She told him.

"And if I win, you leave us the hell alone. You forget about the supernatural, and you never get involved." Dean answered. They shook hands and were deciding on a place that would attract the least attention before Sam knew it.

Dazed, Sam followed them to the car, sliding into the back seat when Alex claimed shotgun. The houses few by, and Sam didn't realise where they were headed until they'd reached the burnt building. They all walked to the back yard, and Dean and Alex set themselves up for the fight.

"You OK, Sammy?" Sam blinked as Dean's hand landed on his shoulder. He nodded at his brother, then swallowed and smiled at him.

"Yeah, I'm fine." He reassured Dean. "Just try not to kill her." Dean laughed.

"Don't worry. This wont take long, then we can hit the road." He answered before he stalked towards Alex. She was still stretching, but as Dean approached her, she lashed out, throwing a punch at his diaphragm. The fight had started.

Dean blocked it, and moved to trip Alex, but she saw it coming, jumped and kicked out at Dean's stomach. Realising he had a fight on his hands, Dean started to fight harder. Blocking the kick, he threw a punch aimed at Alex's shoulder. She stepped it, dropped and spun, hooking Dean's legs with one of her own. He fell on this back, and Alex moved to try to get his arms out of the picture. Dean waited till she was on him before turning, and pinning her.

Sam stood transfixed as Alex squirmed out from under Dean, and began to fight him again. Ten minutes, and a few hundred bruises later, Dean was sprawled on his stomach, Alex sitting on his lower back, effectively taking Dean's legs out of action. She grabbed one of his arms, twisted it, palm up on his back, and tugged it up. Dean hissed in pain, and his other hand reached around blindly to get Alex off him.

Sam counted the seconds.

_1, 2, 3… _Dean was still struggling on the ground, teeth gritted in pain and concentration.

_10, 11, 12… _Dean had now gotten a hold of Alex's leg and was tugging on it, wriggling to try dislodge her. Alex tugged his arm up further, earning her another hiss of pain.

_20, 21, 22… _In a desperate attempt, Dean was trying to roll over, to put his back to the ground. Another tug of his hand made him stop and try catch his breath. Sam reached thirty, and Alex didn't move. She and Dean stayed there for two minutes before Alex let go and backed away from Dean. Dean hissed in pain as he stood and rolled his shoulder.

"I win." Alex stated, locking gaze with Dean. "I'm going to pack, and make a few arrangements. You'd better still be here when I get back, or I'll haunt your ass till judgment day." She growled.

"Fine." Dean growled right back. "Go pack your make-up kits and lets get going."

Alex walked into her room, which was undamaged by the fire. It was on the other side of the house, away from her dad's room. She pulled out a few bags and wondered what she should take. She was leaving for good, and she could only take two bags of things.

Alex carefully picked her clothes. Copying the boys, it was mainly jeans, shirts and a black leather jacket her dad had gotten for her twenty-second birthday. She turned to her books, and ran her fingers across them. It was sad to have to leave them behind, but she knew what was needed. Grabbing a few of her text books, she threw them into the mix, and added a folder with a few blank pages. It was a good size, small enough to carry, but big enough to actually put information in. Pages could be taken out, and put back in. Helen had gotten it for her a few years ago, but she'd never found anything to put in it. Now, she reasoned, she could put supernatural information in it, alphabetical order.

She knew it probably wasn't a good idea for jewellery, but she hadn't missed the necklace Dean was wearing and there was only one she was really after. It was from Stacy, a small blue and green stone, hanging on a sturdy golden chain. She threw in onto her bed, making sure it was apart from the bags. She'd wear it when she got changed.

Alex carefully chose her photo, placing it into her favourite frame and wrapped it in a blue square of material to protect it. It was from the year before. They'd all gone on a bike ride that day, dragging their dad out of the house. It was one of her fondest memories right now. It had been a bad time. She'd just gotten dumped by the boyfriend that she'd been going out with for three years. Helen was scared she was going to lose her job, and had been freaking out for a few weeks. Stacy was going through a rough patch with her boyfriend, and their dad had been under strain from work. The day had made them all forget out their troubles, and they'd just talked about the happier times. They'd gotten the picture out the front of the house when they gotten back, the old couple happy to help. Their bikes were resting on their hips.

She put things into her bag with a lot of thought. The things she left behind, she tried to fix in her memory. There were more then a few tears in the hours of packing.

Eventually, Alex pulled on some sturdy jeans, boots and shirts, with her leather jacket over the top. She pulled her hair up, and clipped on her necklace. She then pulled on her belt that she gotten as a joint present from her friends and family. It was made to be hidden by the bottom of your shirt, and had places where different weapons where supposed to go. At that moment in time, it held a knife in its scabbard on the front of her right hip and nun-chucks on the back of her left hip.

Once she was sure she had everything, she picked up the phone, and organised everything else to be auctioned off. The money would go to her card, and no where else. With a last goodbye to the house, and everything she'd ever known, Alex got into the back of the 1967 Chevrolet Impala with the small pieces of her past in the bags.

As the car pulled way from the house, Metallica blaring through the speaker system, Alex felt like she'd found her place in the world at last.

_

* * *

_

A/N: This isn't the end. Please, please, please tell me what you think.


	9. Hell House

**Disclaimer:** I don't own _Supernatural _nor do I own Sam or Dean. I do, however, own Alex, and her belt. I hope it comes in handy soon.

**Beta:** Wingedteen

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* * *

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Defiance

_Get the hell out of Hell House!_ Sam, Dean and Alex defy a homicidal spirit, but their efforts are encumbered by a pair of goofball paranormal investigators who hope ghost busting will get them girls.

**Hell House**

* * *

Richardson, Texas

Dean looked over at Sam, sleeping in the passenger seat of the car, mouth slightly open. He glanced quickly at Alex, in the back seat, reading their dad's journal. He'd told her to read it, because, frankly, if she had to be with them, it'd be a hell of a lot easier for him if she actually knew what they were up against. He tapped her knee to get her attention before grabbing a plastic spoon, and carefully placing it in Sam's open mouth. He quickly put a finger to his lips, telling Alex to be quiet, not that she didn't already know. He then pulled his phone out and snapped a picture of Sam, spoon in his mouth. That done, he turned up his music, and started to sing, waking Sam up.

Alex watched in amazement as Sam woke and immediately grabbed the spoon out of his mouth. Dean finished with his little dance, before turning, chuckling to his smaller brother.

"Ha, ha. Very funny." Sam grumbled to Dean, clearly annoyed.

"Actually, it was." Alex laughed from the back seat as Dean shot her a glance saying it was timed quite right. It seemed to her that she was growing on the eldest. Slowly, though. He still didn't really like her, just didn't hate her. Sam turned the music down and wiped his mouth.

"Sorry." Dean answered, still smiling. "Not a lot of scenery here in east Texas. Kind of gotta make your own." Dean laughed again, for good measure.

"Man, we're not kids anymore, Dean." Sam said, growling.

"That's debatable." Alex called. After being with the Winchesters for a few days, she was fairly sure they were still five at heart, despite both being older then her. They enjoyed annoying each other, and on occasion, Alex herself.

"We're not gonna start that crap up again." Sam continued, ignoring Alex's input.

"Start what up?" Dean and Alex both asked at the same time. Dean probably had more of an idea of what was going on than she did, but neither had any idea what Sam was talking about.

"That prank stuff. It's stupid and it always escalates." Sam was obviously still pissed off about the spoon, making Alex smile once again.

"So, what? It's funny." Alex disagreed. She'd forgotten about copying the stuff in the journal at this point and was having fun watching the boys argue once again. Some times, she really thought she needed a never-ending supply of popcorn. Who needed TV when you had these two fighting?

"What's the matter, Sammy?" Dean mocked. "You afraid you're gonna get a little Nair in your shampoo again, huh?" Alex burst out laughing at the thought. It would have been funny, seeing Sam's face when he thought he was going bald very quickly. Especially with the long hair he seemed to love.

"Just remember, you started it." Sam sighed, shaking his head. He was still a little annoyed.

"Oh, bring it on, baldy." Dean taunted. Alex sighed to herself.

"Looks like I get to be peace keeper, once again." she'd done it a few times, but it wasn't generally anything bad. Just a few small arguments, here and there. She turned to Dean, thinking about the few day's driving. "Where are we anyway?" she asked.

"A few hours outside of Richardson." Dean answered. "Give me the lowdown again." Sam grabbed the information off the dash, and began telling Dean and Alex all he knew about it

"All right, about a month or two ago kids go poking around this local haunted house." Sam began.

"Sounds like the perfect start to a horror movie, or a ghost tale." Alex muttered. Both Sam and Dean turned around and looked at her, telling her to shut up with out the need for words. She'd gotten that look too many times, so she was beginning to recognise it. She nodded and they turned, hoping she'd learnt her lesson.

"Haunted by what?" Dean asked as he looked back to the road, not that it was overly busy.

"Apparently, a pretty misogynistic spirit. Legend goes, it take girls and strings them up in the rafters." Once again, both boys glanced back at Alex.

"What?" she asked them, knowing what. But it didn't make it ay more sexist.

"Great." Dean muttered.

"Any way, these kids see this dead girl hanging in the cellar."

"Anybody ID the corpse?" Dean shot. It was like random fire questions and Alex realised how well they did this 'job'. They had dealt with these things for a long time, and they could both count on each other.

"Well, that's the thing. By the time the cops got there, the body was gone. So cops are saying the kids were yanking chains." Alex's brows rose at this. Why would they look into something like that?

"So, maybe the cops are right."

"Maybe, but I read a coupe of the kids' firsthand accounts. They seem pretty sincere."

"Where'd you read these accounts?" Sam seemed slightly embarrassed about the answer to that. Alex was surprised. It didn't follow what she'd seen of the boys so far.

"Well, I knew we'd be passing through Texas so last night, I surfed some local paranormal websites and I found one." Alex noticed Dean was not buying any of what Sam was saying.

"And what's it called?"

"Hell hound's lair dot com." Sam answered. Alex burst out laughing. Even she wouldn't have gone into a website like that. Unable to get air, she couldn't make a snappy remark about it. Dean managed to, though.

"Let me guess. Streaming live out of Mum's basement." Alex, who'd finally managed to breathe again, began to laugh even harder.

"Yeah, probably."

"Yeah." Dean made sure that Sam knew it sounded dumb, but from the way he looked, Alex was fairly sure that the point had been driven home. Even so, Dean continued. "Most of those websites wouldn't know a ghost if it bit 'em in the persqueeter."

"Look, we let Dad take off- which was a mistake, by the way." Alex perked up, listening hard. She'd heard a little about their dad, but not much. Most of it was by accident. As far as she could tell, though, Sam and Dean were looking for him. They'd seen him just before they found her, but they let him go. "Now we don't know where the hell he is. So mean time, we gotta find something to hunt. There's no harm checking this thing out."

"All right, so where do we find these kids?" Dean asked.

"Same place you always find kids in a town like this."

* * *

Dean eased the Impala into a parking spot. A sign declared it as the '_Rodeo Drive-in'. _They all got out; Alex sliding out the side Sam was on. When they got to the front, they all merged, Dean walking next to Alex.

"Just follow our lead, ok?" Dean muttered at her. Alex sighed and nodded. She wasn't going to argue with him on something like that. After all, this was her first hunt. She didn't want to screw it up for them, and have Sam and Dean ditch her. She briefly brushed her hand on the hilt of her hidden knife, reminding herself she wasn't clueless. She just didn't know as much as they did.

Contrary to what Sam had said, the kid's stories hadn't matched very well. They all agreed on a few points, but not the specifics. They all said the walls where painted. They just couldn't decide whether it was black or red, paint or blood. They had strange symbols there too: crosses, stars, pentagons and her personal favourite, Pentecostals. She decided against telling the kid that Pentecostals was a form of Christianity. There was a girl that had been hung. But to fit their stories, her hair had to have been died three different colours: black, red and blond. They also couldn't decide if she was still moving or not.

To say the least, Alex was hard pressed not to laugh in Sam's face when the kids finally all agreed on something: A boy called Craig had taken them to the house.

"So, where can we find him?" Alex asked, forgetting about following Sam and Dean. Dean stepped on her foot and she turned to glare at him.

"He's at work." The girl replied.

* * *

The door chimed as it opened and closed to the record store. A boy, probably about sixteen walked over, putting records away. He was about shoulder hight on Sam, short hair done in what was supposed to look a bit like a Mohawk.

"Gentlemen!" He cried, as he passed them to reach a row of records. "Can I help you with anything?"

"Yeah, are you Craig Thurston?" Sam asked. Alex was stuck behind the boys, but she knew it was probably her own fault. After all, she'd broken Dean's rule of following. He was so touchy some times. It annoyed her to no end.

"I am." The boy, Craig replied. He turned to look at them expectantly.

"Well, we're reporters with the _'Dallas Morning News'." _Alex stopped herself from snorting her brains out at that. "I'm Dean, this is Sam." Alex cleared her throat, and Dean spared her a glance. "And this little bundle of joy is Alex." He growled, making it clear he didn't really like her. She just shook her head at him, following with the story he'd made. She was a tag along, that much was clear. It was the perfect cover for her, being the truth of the matter.

"No way. Yeah, I'm a writer too. I write for my school's lit magazine." Craig was obviously proud of his achievement. He walked around the other side of the row, putting more of the records in their place.

"Oh, good for you Morrison." Dean said. Everyone else gave him a strange look. Alex sent a feeling of curiosity to Sam, through a mind link. It was strange, and new to them both. It had also saved Alex's life. They could only communicate with emotions, but that was a hell of a lot more then nothing. Dean didn't know about it, and they were trying to be careful that he didn't find out. It was almost like having a private conversation in a crowed room. Sam sent Alex a mirror image of what she had just sent him, which translated roughly into: I have no freaking clue.

"We're doing an article on local hauntings, and rumour has it you might know about one." Sam picked the story up from where Dean had dropped it. The easy way they acted made her wonder how many times they'd done this kind of thing.

"You mean the Hell House?" Craig asked. He seemed excited about it, and proud somehow.

"That's the one." Alex answered. Dean elbowed her, reminding her that she was supposed to be silent, and following their lead. But she had a feeling that if she didn't say anything, it would seem a bit strange. She received a feeling of calm from Sam, taking it as his way of saying 'cool it'.

"I didn't think there was anything to the story." Craig told them. His attitude hadn't changed, and it was starting to get on Alex's nerves.

"Why don't you tell us the story?" Sam asked, pushing for information. Alex felt like adding in 'you must be dieing to', but received a nudge from Sam. Dean, noticing it, elbowed her again. If they didn't stop it soon, they were going to give her bruises.

"Well, supposedly, back in the thirties, this farmer, Mordechai Murdoch, used to live in the house with his six daughters. It was during the Depression. His crops were failing. He didn't have enough money to even feed his own children. So, I guess that's when he went off the deep end." As he was speaking, Craig walked to the counter, Sam and Alex following him. Dean stayed behind, looking at the albums.

"How?" Alex asked. Dean wasn't there to hit her or anything, so she was fairly sure she was safe. That was until her came up behind her a second later.

"Well, he figured it was best if his girls died quick rather than starve to death. So he attacked them. They screamed, begged for him to stop. But he just strung them up, one after another. And then, when he was all finished, he turned around and hung himself. Now, they say that his spirit is trapped in the house forever, stringin' up any other girl who goes inside." Craig's story was beginning to piss Alex off. It had to be so sexist, didn't it? But there was nothing she could do. After all, this was the story, and she couldn't mess with it, no matter how much she wanted to.

"But where'd you hear all this?" Dean asked, stepping on Alex's foot. She gritted her teeth and refused to move. She was so sick of it. But Dean had brought her with him, not the other way around.

"My cousin, Dana, told me. I don't know where she heard it from. You've gotta realize I didn't believe this for a second." Didn't? Alex noticed the past tense in his word.

"But now you do?" Sam asked. Apparently, he'd caught it as well.

"I don't know what the hell to think, man. Guys, I'll tell you exactly what I told the police, okay? That girl was real, and she was dead. This was not a prank. I swear to God, I don't wanna go anywhere near that house ever again, okay?" Sam and Dean looked at each other, communicating with their gaze.

"Thanks." Dean filled in. He grabbed Alex's arm and dragged her out side, Sam following them both. "What the hell did I tell you?" he growled at Alex. When Alex made no attempt to answer they all got into the car, Dean not saying a word, and the music off. It was a bad sign. Sam gave Alex an expectant feeling. He didn't look like he was doing anything, she noticed. He was just looking out the windscreen, watching the road roll by under the tires.

"You told me to follow your lead." Alex sighed. She hated people trying to down tread her, but in this instance, she could understand it. That didn't mean she had to like it.

"That's right. What'd you just do?" Dean pushed. Alex gritted her teeth and tried not to kill him. She also tried to use any telekineses. Not that she knew how to do that. Her powers were still purely instinctive and out of her control.

"Butted in and tried to do it my own way." Man, it was like her Dad, all over again. Not that he'd been her real Dad, but it was the closest thing she had to family.

They reached a point in the road, and Dean pulled over. As one, they got out of the car and began walking to the house. It was old, run down and looked like it hadn't been used in years. Alex was waiting for it to collapse under its own weight.

"Can't say I blame the kid." Sam said as they all took in the rotting house.

"Yeah, so much for curb appeal." Dean answered. Sam laughed and Alex rolled her eyes.

"If there was going to be a haunted house, this one looks like it fits the bill." Alex observed. Sam and Dean didn't even glance at her as she said it, but she wasn't really expecting a reaction.

She followed Dean and Sam to the side of the house, hanging back as Sam tried to look into one of the boarded windows. Even those things were rotting. Dean pulled out a device, one that they explained to be before to be an EMF reader. Whatever that meant. All she understood from their explanation was that it could pick up paranormal activity. The thing started to make noise, and Dean tapped at it, frowning.

"You got somethin'?" Sam asked as he headed back over. He looked at the device, as though the flashing lights and weird noise actually made sense.

"Yeah. The EMF's no good." Dean switched it off and tucked it into his pocket.

"Why?" Sam asked. Honestly, Alex didn't think it worked period, but then, she didn't know anything, really. She was still learning, reading out of a book. The brothers had yet to let her anywhere near the weapons in the trunk of the car, and she wasn't sure how to use a gun. Alex figured that you aimed at it something and pulled the trigger, but she wondered if there was anything else to go with it.

"I think that thing's still got a little juice in it. It's screwin' with all the readings." Dean nodded to an old electricity line. It wasn't as old as the house, and looked nowhere near as run down.

"Yeah, that'd do it." Sam sighed, looking at the offending object. Alex made sure not to do anything unless they wanted her to, keeping out of the way. She was trying to weasel her way back into Dean's good books.

"Yep. Come on, let's go." Dean led the way into the house, Sam coming up last.

The house was as bad inside as it was outside. The walls had holes and pealing paint, and a bunch of strange symbols all over them. Some were in black, others in a dark red.

"Looks like Old Man Murdoch was a bit of a tagger during his time." Dean said, looking at some of the symbols. Alex looked at them, and didn't see anything bad that jumped out at her. Apparently, though, Sam did.

"And after his time, too. The reversed cross has been used by Satanists for centuries, but this sigil of sulphur didn't show up in San Francisco until the sixties." Sam said, looking at them. He took pictures of them both on his phone, probably going to see if someone drew them for a reason. Or maybe he wanted to throw them together for his background. Alex wasn't really sure.

"This is exactly why you never get laid." Dean told Sam. He turned to Alex. "Right?" he asked. Alex nodded, trying to get 'Dean points'. "See, straight from a girl." He told Sam before walking on. He stopped in front of another weird symbol.

Painted in red, it looked like an upside-down question mark. Three lines extended from the dot without touching it, making it look a bit like a very weird cross.

"And, that is?" Alex asked, looking at it. Somehow it reminded her of a nuclear sign, those ones you saw on TV and stuff.

"Hey, what about this one? You seen this one before?" Dean called to Sam. Dean looked at it in different angles, turning his head. Sam walked over, looking at it. He snapped a photo of it, trying to remember if he had ever seen it.

"No."

"I have. Somewhere."

"Well, is it paint?" Alex asked them both, remembering that one of the people they'd talked to had said it was blood. Sam ran his finger down it and pulled it back to look.

"Yeah. Seems pretty fresh, too." He answered.

"I don't know, Sam. I mean, I hate to agree with authority figures of any kind, but the cops might be right about this one." Dean said, walking away from the symbol he'd been looking at. Alex rolled her eyes at his back. Yeah, he hated anyone who could boss him around- save his family, as far as she could tell.

"Wow, Dean, I never knew that." She told him.

"Yeah, maybe." Sam answered, ignoring Alex. He sent her a quick feeling of happiness, a bit like a grin, between them. A second later, the sound of something falling made everyone turn, looking in the direction it came from. They all walked as quickly and quietly as they could to the door the noise came from. Dean took the right side of the door, Sam on the left with Alex behind him.

At a nod from Dean, the boys charged in, to be blinded by a large light. The light moved from their faces quickly, revealing two men in front of them. Alex followed them in, and managed to turn her laugh into a cough, made slightly believable by the dusty state of the old house.

These two where obviously geeks, what, with the clothes they were wearing, and the various other video equipment. True, only one of them had glasses, and they weren't ridiculously large making him bug-eyed or anything, but they just had the general feel of _geek_ about them.

The one with glasses was going bald, and seemed to be trying to make up for that by growing a beard. At this time, though, it was just thick ginger stubble. He held the video camera, and spoke first.

"Cut! Just a couple humans." he cried as he actually saw Sam and Dean.

The other one, without the glasses was pale, as they always seemed to be. He was also showing signs of going bald, having an 'M' on his forehead from his dark hair. He held the large light that had just blinded both Sam and Dean.

"What are you guys doing here?" he asked Sam, Dean and Alex.

"What the hell are _you_ doin' here?" Dean responded, annoyed at just having a light shoved in his face.

"Uh, we belong here. We're professionals." The red haired one responded.

"Professional what?" Dean asked.

"Paranormal investigators." He answered. He took three cards out of his pocket, and held them out to Alex, Sam and Dean. "There ya go. Take a look at that, boys." Alex glared at him, and he hurriedly corrected himself. "And girl."

Sam, Alex and Dean looked quickly at the cards.

"Oh, you've gotta be kiddin' me." Dean muttered looking at the piece of paper. Alex had to agree with him.

_Ed Zeddmore. Harry Spangler._

_Paranormal Investigators._

_E-mail us at _

"Ed Zeddmore and Harry Spangler. Hell Hound's Lair dot com, you guys run that website?" Sam asked. The dark haired one indicated who was who as Sam read their names.

"Yeah." Ed, ginger headed wonder, answered

"Oh, yeah, yeah. We're huge fans." Dean walked past the boys and into a more spacious spot of the room. Alex followed him, to get out of the heat that was starting to up around them all.

"And, uh, we know who you guys are, too." They said arrogantly, missing the way Sam and Dean exchanged a worried glance, making Alex wonder what she was missing.

"Oh, yeah?" Sam asked them. Alex raised an eyebrow, emphasising the point.

"Amateurs." Sam and Dean visibly relaxed and Dean began to go through their stuff. "Lookin' for ghosts and cheap thrills." Ed said, trying to sound smart.

"Hey, Alex, why don't you hang with these fellas, learn their tricks, huh?" Dean asked, looking over at her. Alex resisted the urge to smirk at him. Two could play this game.

"Oh, no! I couldn't bear to part with you, hon." Alex retorted, and winked at him, sending two very different messages to the different groups of people there.

"Oh, we would make it worth your while." Harry told her, trying to get closer to Alex. She resisted the urge to recoil from him, but backed into Dean, instead. Unseen by her, Dean gave both the boys a glare that would have earned a squeal from a vampire, had he directed it toward one.

"Oh, like what?" Alex pressed, trying to find out how much these guys actually knew.

"Uh, Harry, why don't you tell 'em about EMF?" Ed turned to look expectantly at his partner. Alex made sure the snigger didn't get past her throat.

"EMF?" Sam asked, playing along.

"Electro-Magnetic field." Harry answered, matter-of-factly. He walked over to his bag and pulled out a brick-like thing that looked nothing like the one Dean carried. "Spectral entities can cause energy fluctuations that can be read with an EMF detector…" he pulled the antennae out, and flipped it on. "Like this bad boy right here." The thing in is hands started to make a noise that sounded like it belonged in a sic-fi movie. "Whoa, whoa. That's 2.8 MG."

"2.8." Ed repeated smugly.

"It's hot in here." Harry told the hunters. Sam sent a feeling of joy to Alex, and a quick glance at Dean told her he was trying to hide a smile. She ducked her head to conceal a smirk.

Sam whistled mockingly "Wow."

"Huh. So, have you guys ever really seen a ghost before, or…?" Dean asked. Happy that Dean wasn't pissed at her, Alex stepped away from him.

"Once. We were, uh—we were investigating this old house, and we saw a vase fall right off the table." Ed told them.

"By itself." Harry added enthusiastically.

"Well, we didn't actually see it, but we heard it. And something like that, it, uh… it changes you." Ed finished seriously. Sam watched them, apparently immersed in the story. Alex felt like snapping at them to come back when they'd killed people without touching them or seen someone pinned to the ceiling burst into flames.

Dean must have known what she was feeling like, because he hurriedly began speaking. "Yeah. I think we get the picture. We should go—let them get back to work." He pulled Alex with him, as he walked back to Sam.

"Yeah, you should. The girl can stay if she wants, but you guys would get in the way." Harry said hopefully.

"Sam?" Dean said as they walked past.

"You are so _brave_ to be doing this kind of work." Alex told them as she left.

"Yeah, work." Ed laughed. "I laugh in the face of danger." He called after Alex. "I'm sorry. That pot we smoked gave me the giggles. Woo!"

"You could come in handy, Alex." Dean told her as they made their way back to the car. Alex rolled her eyes at him.

"Gee, thanks." She muttered at him. They got into the car in their respective spots. "So, what do we do now?" she asked.

Dean started the car and headed back towards the town. "Now, we do some digging."

* * *

Alex followed Sam in to the _Collin County Public Library_. Sam pulled down a bunch of books and handed them to Alex.

"Here, read these." He told her, before opening his laptop.

"What am I looking for?" Alex asked him as she opened the book. Sam looked up at her.

"Ah, violent deaths at or around the house, like hanging, or murder, or someone called Mordechai Murdoch." Sam told her Alex nodded her head and began to read. Eventually, they found that nothing matched, and went looking for anything similar.

Finally they came up with one name and left, writing the information in one of Sam's books. They waited outside for Dean, Sam looking at other things in the little book of his.

"Hey." Alex called to Dean when she noticed him. She grabbed Sam's arm and pulled him down the steps to join Dean. Sam looked up, and noticed the reason they where moving.

"Hey. What do you got?" Dean asked, leading the way back to the car. Sam pulled his book up and flipped through a few pages.

"Well, we couldn't find a Mordechai, but we did turn up a Martin Murdoch who lived in that house in the thirties. He did have children, but only two of 'em—both boys." Sam told him

"And there was no record he ever killed anybody." Alex finished. Dean looked at them both strangely.

"Huh." He answered.

"What about you?" Sam asked, noticing the look.

"Well, those kids didn't really give us a clear description of that dead girl, but I did hit up the police station." Dean began. He gave Sam and Alex another strange look before continuing. "No matching missing persons—it's like she never existed." They reached the car, and Dean dug in his pocket for the keys. "Dude, come on, man. We did our digging, this one's a bust, all right? For all we know, those Hell Hound boys made up the whole thing."

"Probably trying to get lucky." Alex added. Both boys snorted at the idea. They both had to admit though, Alex's remark had merit.

"Yeah, all right." Sam reluctantly agreed.

"So, I say we find ourselves a bar and some beers, and leave the legend to the locals." Dean unlocked the doors and got in, Alex climbing in the back seat. Sam hesitated entering the car. Dean quickly turned the engine on. Alex jumped as some weird fast paced music resonated through the speakers at full blast. The wipers where also going, sweeping across the windscreen as fast as they could. Dean swore and raced to turn everything off, as Sam got into the car, laughing.

" What the f—?" Dean cried, before noticing Sam. Sam licked his finger and drew a one in the air, pointing to himself, mouthing 'me?'. Alex shook her head laughing. "That's all you got? That's weak. That is Bush-league." Dean told them both as he pulled the car away from the curb.

"It was still funny." Alex disagreed. Sam turned in his seat to smile at her, still laughing. They pulled up to a motel, and Dean got them a room. Alex grabbed a bag containing the sheets she'd brought. She could sleep practically anywhere, so they'd decided that she'd sleep on the floor of the room. Not that she minded too much.

Dean quickly dumped his stuff and headed to the door, not wanting to wait for his brother. Alex dumped her bag and sat on it.

"I'm gonna stay here." She told him. Dean looked around, staring at her like she was mad.

"And do what?" he asked in disbelief. Sam looked at them both, not understanding Dean's reaction.

"Research. I'm way behind you both, and I need to catch up." Alec answered. Dean rolled his eyes at her.

"Then who's going to stay here with you?" he asked. Alex's eyebrows rose in surprise.

"You still don't trust me?" she asked. Dean shook his head at her.

"Hell no." he growled.

"Look, Dean." Sam intercepted. "We've got the Impala; she's not going to be able to harm us. The worst she's going to do is scribble in dad's journal, and we can kill her for that when we get back, ok?" he proposed. Dean looked at him for a while, before eventually nodding.

"Alright." He agreed. The boys walked out of the room, and Alex pulled the journal closer to her, and flipped to the page she was copying. She began to rewrite the information into her own book for about thirty minutes, so she was sure the boys has really gone and weren't just waiting to find out what she was up to.

She put both the books down and fumbled at her necklace for a few seconds, taking the item off her neck, dangling it at arm's length. She watched until it had stopped moving and began to concentrate on it. She had no idea how she was supposed to do this. After all last time she'd used these powers, she'd been scared out of her mind, trying to tug Helen off the ceiling.

She swept through her head, looking for some source of power, the one thing that she'd never consciously used before. Eventually, she found it, another sense, another body part. Concentrating, she stretched it out, and grabbed the blue and green rock pendent on the chain, and tried to move it, using this other sense.

Ten minutes passed, and nothing happened. Twenty minutes passed and she broke out into a cold sweat. After half an hour, the pendent began to rock, back and forwards. Only slightly. She wasn't sure if it was her hand twitching, her slowly losing consciousness, or actual powers, but she sure as hell wanted to find out.

She stopped moving the pendent. Then she started to lift it. She was shaking with the effort, but it lifted a tiny bit, chain going loose. Feeling really proud of herself, she let the chain relax, and put it back on, knowing that she probably wouldn't get much more done that night. That was when the headache hit. All numbing pain from her head.

Groaning, she curled into a ball, and held her head in her hands. She eventually couldn't stand the ferocity of it, and fell into a comatose state.

That was how Dean and Sam found her. They pulled out one of her blankets, and threw it over her, waiting for her to wake.

"What the hell happened?" Sam asked, when Alex opened her eye. She hissed and he hands went to her head again.

"Migraine." She answered, before falling back to sleep. Sam told Dean, and they decided that it wasn't too much of a worry. After all, you couldn't stop a migraine.

* * *

After waking, Sam, Dean and Alex packed their stuff, throwing it all into the trunk, on top of the weapons, strategically placed so they could still get their weapons easily, but it didn't look conspicuous. They needed breakfast before they left, and Dean was in serious need of coffee.

Finding a place open at the crack of dawn that provided food, however, posed a bit of a problem. After about thirty minutes of looking, they finally came to a place that had what they needed. They all walked in to get food.

Each grabbing their food, or what Dean thought passed as food, they all headed to the desk to pay for their purchases. A middle aged man appeared, with greying hair. He looked at the items and slowly began to check them. As he did so, he began talking.

"Did you hear about the suicide last night?" the man asked. Dean and Sam shared a look, and Alex wondered what it had to do with anything they did.

"No." Sam answered after a heart beat.

"Well, I don't know much, but somethin' happened last night, out at that farm house." The man answered. Now Alex understood why a suicide spiked the boy's interest.

"The one the kids are calling the 'Hell House'?"

"Aye, that be the one." the man nodded. He finished swiping the food they'd gotten, and Dean held out his credit card. Alex knew they were all thinking the same thing. They raced back to the car, and headed off to have a look, see what had happened. When they got to the house, the police were already there, an ambulance, and some men in white pulling a stretcher out of the house. The police were talking to people, probably taking statements. The whole thing seemed pretty surreal.

They walked up to one of the other onlookers, hoping they knew more then the man at the station. A police officer walked away from him as they approached.

"What happened?" Dean asked, and, if Alex wasn't mistaken, he was slightly worried.

"Couple of cops say that poor girl hung herself in the house." The man answered. He seemed to be confused, just stating the facts, trying to be a bit insensitive to keep his distance.

"Suicide?" Alex asked, remembering what the server had told them.

"Yeah. But she was a straight-A student, with a full ride to UT, too. It just don't make sense." The man shook his head slightly before walking away from the boys, probably to try find out some more information.

"So, what's that mean?" Alex asked the boys. Sam turned to Dean, body language telling Alex he didn't know, so he wasn't going to answer. His eyes, instead, went to the stretcher carrying the body bag.

"What do you think?"

"I think maybe we missed somethin'." Dean answered. Sam nodded his approval of that idea.

"So, what do we do now?" Alex asked, having no idea on what they needed to do. Sam and Dean looked at each other and turned to look at her. "What?" she asked. They walked back to the Impala, and Dean popped the trunks, pulled the floor up and started to grab a few guns out.

"If you're going to stay with us, you're gonna need to know how to use one of these." He answered, handing her a gun.

They headed into the forest, deep, away from everyone. Eventually they came to a spot that Sam and Dean decided was far enough, and they began to show Alex how to use different kinds of guns. How to load, cock and shoot. What to watch out for with them. And aiming. They were persistent with aiming.

She was good, fairly accurate with it. Although they didn't outright say it, Alex knew they were impressed with her skill.

As it got dark, they retrieved more weapons before making their way back to the house. Dean and Sam had given Alex a gun, and, yes, it was loaded. She knew Dean didn't believe in having an unloaded one, as it would be next to useless, and they may need things like that in a hurry. She was surprised by the trust they showed her by giving her the gun, but flattered none the less.

As they made their way to the house, Sam and Dean hid in the shadows, out of habit, more then anything else. Alex tried to copy their movements, but she was sure that compared to them, she was a charging elephant. It was a good thing that they all did that, they realised as they saw the house. Tape covered the entrance, and cops patrolled it, flashlights in hand.

"I guess the cops don't want anymore kids screwin' around in there." Alex observed.

"Yeah, but we still gotta get in." Dean agreed. Everyone lapsed into silence for a second, and Alex rolled her eyes when she heard 'whispering'. They all whipped their heads around to look, Dean seeing them first.

"I don't believe it." Dean whispered. Alex almost choked holding her laughter in when she saw the two geeks running to the house. Harry and Ed had all their equipment with them. Dean shook his head at the ridiculous sight.

"I got an idea." Dean said, looking at the two idiots. He stood behind the trees, and carefully shouted to make sure that the noise seemed to come from the two boys. "Who ya gonna call?" Harry and Ed stopped, lifting some stupid looking, and probably useless, goggles off their eyes at Dean's yell.

"Hey! You!" two of the coppers immediately began to chase after the geeks, and they fled, terrified. While the watchmen were distracted, the trio of hunters slipped into the house, carrying their bag of weapons. Sam handed one of the guns to Dean before giving one to Alex.

Dean and Alex pulled out a torch each, and as they made their way to the cellar, they stopped by the symbol Dean had noticed before.

"Man, where have I seen that symbol before? It's killin' me!" he cried, holding the light up so he could see it. Alex looked at it again, but nothing jumped out at her as being familiar, apart from the first time she saw it.

"Come on, we don't have much time." Sam reminded him, and the rest of the way to the cellar was silent.

Alex and Dean looked around the small room, although Alex wasn't sure what they were looking for. Sam stayed back, looking for any sign of movement, ready to fill it full of the rock salt in their guns.

After Dean and Alex had done a once over of the cellar's contents they walked back to Sam, standing at the bottom of the stairs. The shelves in front of them held a few jars of one rotting thing, or another. Dean picked one up, shining his torch in it.

"Hey, Sam," he called, "I dare you to take a swig of this."

"What the hell would I do that for?" Sam asked, looking at the foul object that had turned to liquid over the years.

"How about you, Alex?" he asked. Alex shook her head at him, and he went silent for a moment, before going at it again. "I double-dare you." He pushed. Alex looked at him, smiled, and Dean suddenly had a bad feeling about it.

"You first." She responded. Sam shook his head at the both of them, rolling his eyes at their stupidity. Before Dean or Alex could make good on the dare, though, a scuttling from a cupboard reminded them what they were there for.

They all raced quietly over to it, Alex on one side of the cupboard, Sam on the other. Dean stood in front of it, ready to shoot the crap out of what ever was inside. At a nod from Dean, Alex and Sam pulled the doors open. Three rats moved, one running out, to Dean.

"Ugh, I hate rats." Dean muttered, stepping away from them.

"You'd rather it was a ghost?" Alex laughed at him. Sam laughed with her, and Dean sent them both a glare.

"Yes." He answered. Alex nodded at him, before noticing something silver catch the light behind Sam and Dean.

"Shit!" she hissed, and Dean and Sam spun around. They both raised their guns, and fired rapidly at it, seeming to have no affect on the apparition. After a few more shots, it dissolved into something resembling a cloud of dark smoke, before disappearing altogether.

"What the hell kind of spirit is immune to rock salt?" Sam yelled, looking at Dean and Alex. Alex just stood there, gun in hand, shivering.

"I don't know." Dean answered. They stood there for a second, until Dean turned, grabbed Alex's wrist and pulled, "Come on, come on, come on." He cried, dragging Alex behind him, Sam bringing up the rear.

As they raced towards the stairs, the spirit, Mordechai, reappeared, and smashed the shelves. After a few of the shelves had been reduced to rubble, it took a shot at Sam. He barley had the gun up in time to save himself from receiving an axe to his brains, and he held the it above his head, holding the spirit, so Alex and Dean could get out.

"Go! Get out of here!" he yelled at them both. After Dean had Alex up the stair and was chasing after her, Sam threw the axe off him and they raced through the house, tumbling out of the door, and breaking the tape that ran around the porch.

Alex had, by now, realised the need for running. She was up before the brothers and almost didn't notice Harry and Ed holding their cameras, filming the whole thing. Dean however, did.

"Get that damn thing out of my face!" he growled at the geeks, following Alex with Sam hot on his heels.

"Sweet Lord of the Rings—_run!_" they heard Harry's scream, but didn't stop to see what happened. Once they were hidden in the bush surrounding the house, Dean turned to Alex, grabbing her shoulder.

"What the hell was that?" Dean yelled at her, shaking her. Alex tugged out of his grip and glared at him.

"You may have grown up around axe welding maniacs, but that was the first time I saw one." she growled right back at him.

"Guys, we've got to get out here." Sam reminded them. They headed to the car, and rode back to the motel in silence. With out a word, Alex set out her bed and dropped into it, sleep claiming her almost instantly.

_

* * *

_

A/N: To those who have been suffering through my lack of grammar and correct spelling, HAVE NO FEAR! YOUR SAVIOUR IS HERE! Say a huge heart felt thanks to the best and most patient Beta in the 42 Universes: Wingedteen!

_Beta note: The horrific spelling and awkward grammar will stop, guys, I swear! _

_A/N: I hope between us, we manage to catch most of it. But, don't be afraid to point any mistakes out. Or ask about anything I haven't been quite clear on._

_And, for those of you who are wondering, yes, this is an episode of Supernatural, and much of the dialogue is taken directly from it._


	10. Torture Quarters

**Disclaimer:** I don't own _Supernatural _nor do I own Sam or Dean. I do, however, own Alex, and her belt. I hope it comes in handy soon.

**Beta: **Wingedteen

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Defiance

_Get the hell out of Hell House!_ Sam, Dean and Alex defy a homicidal spirit, but their efforts are encumbered by a pair of goofball paranormal investigators who hope ghost busting will get them girls.

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Torture Quarters- (Hell House II)

Richardson, Texas

For the first half of the morning, they didn't do anything. Dean didn't even leave the room. He was continuously drawing the symbol that had him so worked up. Sam was trying to find out what the symbols were, using any books they had (including the text books Alex had packed) and the internet.

"What the hell is this symbol? It's buggin' the hell outta me." Dean cried suddenly. Alex looked over at him, wondering what he was going on about. "This whole damn job is buggin' me. I thought the legend said that Mordechai only goes after chicks."

"He does." Sam answered, still looking at his computer. Alex was still copying out things from the journal, sitting on Sam's bed as he wasn't using it.

"Right. Well, then that explains why he went after you both, but why me?"

"Hilarious." Sam answered. Alex smirked at their bartering. "The legend also says he hung himself, but did you see those slit wrists?" Sam answered

"Yeah." Dean scratched his head, before going back to the symbol.

"No." Alex muttered, knowing they didn't really care.

"What's up with that?" Sam asked. Alex respected that it was a rhetorical question, and didn't answer. Sam continued to talk, though. "And the axe, too. I mean, ghosts are usually pretty strict, right? Following the same patterns over and over?"

"But his mood keeps changin'." Dean agreed.

"Exactly." Sam fiddled with his computer, and Alex noticed that he was going onto the geek's website, _'Hell Hounds Lair'_. "I'm tellin' you, the way the story goes—wait a minute."

"What?" Dean looked over at Sam briefly, before going back to his own thoughts on the symbol. Alex, however got off the bed and walked over, looking at the website, reading over Sam's shoulder.

"Someone added a new post into the Hell Hounds' site." She answered. Sam jumped at her voice, surprised at how close she was.

"Listen to this." Sam began reading the new post off the sight. "They say Mordechai Murdoch was really a Satanist who chopped up his victims with an axe before slitting his own wrists. Now he's imprisoned in the house for eternity."

"Where the hell is this going?" Alex asked, turning. She noticed Dean had sat up, off the wall, and was staring at the sheet holding the symbol he'd drawn.

"I don't know, but I think I might have just figured out where it all started." Dean said, and Sam turned to look at him. He jumped off the bed and walked to the door, Alex and Sam following. Neither had any idea what was going on.

Dean got into the car, Alex slipping into the back, Sam jumping into shotgun. Alex couldn't believe where they were when they stopped, and she had to question Dean's sanity as she recognised the place.

"The record store?" she asked. Without a word, Dean got out of the car and they all walked through the door, bell chiming.

"Hey, Craig. Remember us?" Dean called out. Craig turned around, looking tired.

"Guys, I'm really not in the mood to answer anymore of your questions, okay?" his voice was rough, like he hadn't slept in a while.

"Oh, don't worry, we're just here to buy an album, that's all." Dean responded. Craig turned away and flipped through the records. Dean also went looking for something, and kept glancing Craig's way. Although she trusted him, Alex had to wonder what Dean was up to. After a while, though, Dean picked up an album and walked over to Craig, Alex and Sam not far behind.

"You know, I couldn't figure out what that symbol was, and then I realized, it doesn't mean anything. It's a logo for Blue Oyster Cult." Dean said. Craig looked guilty at Dean's words, and he turned to face them again. "So, tell me, Craig—are you into BOC? Or just scarin' the hell outta people?" he handed the record to Craig, who took it, flipping it over to see the same symbol that been haunting Dean for the past few days. "So, why don't you tell us about that house without lyin' through your ass this time."

Craig sighed before talking. "All right, um—my cousin, Dana, was on break from TCU, and I guess we were just bored, lookin' for something to do, so I showed her this abandoned dump I found. We thought it'd be funny if we made it look like it was haunted. So, we painted symbols on the walls—some from some albums, and some from some of Dana's theology textbook. And then we found out this guy Murdoch used to live there, so we made up some story to go along with that.

"So, they told people, who told other people, and then these two guys put it on their stupid website. Everything just took on a life of its own. I mean, I thought it was funny at first, but….now that girl's dead." The tears that had been building up fell out of his eyes and rolled down his cheeks. "It was just a joke, you know, I mean—none of it was real, we made the whole thing up, I swear." Craig wiped at the tears that were now sitting on his cheeks, and Alex had to hand it to him, he was sorry. Although crying about it really wasn't a manly thing at all.

"All right." Dean nodded at the crying boy and they left.

"If none of it was real, then how the hell do you explain Mordechai?" Alex asked as they headed out the door.

They got back to the motel, and Alex got some pictures of things in the house and started comparing them to the ones in her textbooks. She got some matches, but they were a bust. After a few hours, Dean left, doing who knew what.

It was shortly after that Alex found what they were looking for. She showed it to Sam, and he began to look into it in more detail. Alex, on the other hand, went to the journals and yet again, began copying. Sam found what he wanted and slipped into the shower.

Alex looked up as the door opened to admit Dean back into the room. She smiled at him before going back to the journal. She hated copying, but this was a good way to find things out. She might actually remember it.

"Hey, I'm back." Dean called.

"Hey. Where were you?" Sam asked, through the door to the shower.

"Oh, I went out." Dean responded. Alex was only half listening, concentrating on what the information was that she was writing.

"So, I think I might have a theory about what's goin' on." Sam told Dean. Alex growled under her breath at him that he hadn't mentioned her help. After all, she'd found what the symbol was.

"Oh, yeah?" Dean asked.

"Yeah. What if Mordechai is a tulpa?" Sam asked. He'd already explained what that was to Alex.

"A tulpa?" Dean questioned. Alex looked up at the sound of the bathroom door opening. Sam came out, in only a towel, and she hurriedly looked back to Dean, who was hiding a packet of something behind his back. Alex smirked, and decided not to tell Sam. Dean winked at her, letting her know he appreciated it.

"Yeah, a Tibetan thought form." Sam continued.

"Yeah, I know what a tulpa is. Hey, why don't you get dressed? We'll go grab somethin' to eat." Sam grabbed his clothes and went back to the bathroom to put them on, while Alex turned to Dean.

"If you _ever_ do that to me, I will castrate you." She growled at him. Dean nodded at her, smiling. Once Sam emerged from the bathroom, dressed, they went to the '_Rodeo Drive-in'._ Because of the itching powder Dean had thrown all over Sam's boxers, Alex was having a hard time not laughing her head off at him, and he constantly stopped himself from scratching inappropriate places.

"Hey, what's your problem?" Alex asked him. Sam glanced at her, and she could have sworn he went slightly red.

"Nothing. I'm fine." He told her. They sat down at a table, placing the coffees and chips on its surface.

"Yeah?" Dean pressed. Alex noticed that, for once, she and Dean were working together.

"Yeah." Sam assured him. Dean and Alex shared a look across the table.

"All right, so, keep goin', what about these tulpas?" Dean asked. It would look weird if he pressed the issue too much.

"Okay, uh, so there was this incident in Tibet in 1915. A group of monks visualized a golem in their heads. They meditate on it so hard, they bring the thing to life—out of thin air." Sam told him. Sam had explained to her that it was just a big thing of rock or mud that had been brought to life.

"So?" Dean asked. He was enjoying this.

"That was twenty monks. Imagine what ten thousand web surfers could do. I mean, Craig starts a story about Mordechai, and it spreads, goes online. Now there are countless people all believing in the bastard." Sam told him.

"Okay, wait a second. You're trying to tell me that just because people believe in Mordechai, he's real?" Alex, if she didn't know about the symbols in the house, would have voiced the same question. Sam shifted, uncomfortably, and, because Sam was looking at Dean, Alex allowed herself a smirk.

"I don't know, maybe." Sam pulled his laptop out, and set it on the table, looking for the symbol, and pulling it up.

"People believe in Santa Claus. How come I'm not gettin' hooked up every Christmas?" Dean questioned.

"'Cause you're a bad person. And because of this." Sam turned the computer towards Dean, and Alex knew what was on it. After all, she'd found the blasted thing. It was one of the symbols that they'd found on the wall. "That's a Tibetan spirit sigil on the wall of the house. Craig said they were painting symbols from a theology textbook. I bet you they painted this not even knowing what it was. Now, that sigil has been used for centuries—concentrating meditative thoughts like a magnifying glass. So, people are on the Hell Hounds' website, starin' at the symbol, thinkin' about Mordechai—I mean, I don't know. But it might be enough to bring a tulpa to life."

"It would explain why he keeps changin'." Dean agreed.

"Right. As the legend changes, people think different things, so Mordechai himself changes, like a game of telephone."

"That would also explain why the rock salt didn't work." Alex added, trying to tell Dean that she knew more about it than Sam made it seem.

"Yeah, 'cause he's not a traditional spirit, per se." Dean nodded.

"Yeah." Sam gave her the point, but still didn't mention her involvement in finding the damn thing.

"Okay, so, uh, why don't we just get this spirit sigil thingy off the wall and off the website?" Dean asked, and Alex nodded, knowing that she'd wanted to do just that before reading more into it.

"Well, it's not that simple. You see, once tulpas are created, they take on a life of their own." Alex told him, recalling the page that had told her all about it.

"Great. All right, so, if he really is a thought form, how the hell are we supposed to kill an idea?" Dean asked. Sam and Alex shared a look.

"Well, it's not gonna be easy with these guys helping us. Check out their homepage." Once again, Alex had already seen what Sam was showing Dean. The video of what had happened the night before was playing. "Since they posted the video, the number of hits have quadrupled in the last day alone."

"Huh. I got an idea. Come on." Dean got up and Sam began to gather his things. Alex followed Dean, leaving Sam to put his laptop away.

"Where are we going?" Alex asked, once she'd caught up with him.

"I gotta find a copy store." Dean answered, loud enough for Sam to hear.

"Man, I think I'm allergic to our soap or somethin'." Sam called out. Alex and Dean laughed at him as they walked. "You did this?" Dean laughed at him again. Alex didn't say anything. "You're a friggin' jerk."

"Oh yeah!" Dean called back, as they all walked off. Sam got his things, and caught up with them outside.

"You knew about this?" Sam asked Alex as they all got into the car. "And you didn't do anything."

"Well, I'm not about to stick my head out for someone who takes other's credit." She answered. Dean's eyebrows shot up.

"Ouch, don't want to get on the wrong side of her." Dean muttered, and they pulled out.

* * *

Dean knocked on the caravan's door. Honestly, it hadn't been hard to find. They just asked if anyone knew where two geeks lived, and they all pointed in the same direction.

"Who is it?" Harry's voice carried out of the small caravan. Alex rolled her eyes at the idiots inside.

"Come on out here, guys, we hear you in there." Dean told them. Alex sniffled a laugh.

"It's _them_." Ed sounded resentful, and, if she wasn't mistaken, jealous. She grinned, knowing they were idiots, but the fact they were practically drooling over her was ego boosting. The door opened to the caravan, and it looked like a typical geek's room.

"Oh, look at that. Action figures in their original packaging. What a shocker." Dean cried, looking at them. It was pretty stupid, Alex had to admit.

"Guys, we need to talk." Alex told them.

"We'd love to, but make it quick. We've got a lot of things to investigate." Ed answered. He was obviously trying to impress Alex. Too bad, she still thought they were idiots.

"Okay, well, we'll make it quick. We need you to shut down your website." Ed and Harry looked at each other. Ed laughed at them, as though it was the stupidest idea. And, to some people, it would be.

"Man, you know, these guys get us busted last night, and we spend the night in a holding cell." He told Harry.

"I had to pee in that cell urinal in front of people. And I get stage fright." Alex smirked, but, a quick glance from Sam made her wipe it off. With these morons, it was hard, though.

"Why should we trust you guys?" Ed asked him.

"Look, guys, we all know what we saw last night, what's in the house. But now, thanks to your website, there are thousands of people hearin' about Mordechai." Sam told them.

"That's right, which means people are gonna keep showin' up at the Hell House, runnin' into him in person—somebody could get hurt." Dean added.

"Yeah." Ed asked, his tone adding _why do we care?_

"Ed, maybe he's got a point." Harry was saner than the other, but he was also a sheep. Had to copy someone, had to have something to follow.

"No, no." Ed answered.

"Nope." Harry's mind changed, proving her point.

"Okay, we have an obligation to our fans, to the truth." Ed seemed to be gearing up for a speech.

"Fight for truth and justice." Alex muttered. Dean caught her chest with his elbow and she took the hint.

"Well, I have an obligation to kick both your little asses right now-"

"Dean, Dean, hey, hey. Forget it, all right? These guys—I could probably bitch-slap them both. I could probably even tell 'em that thing about Mordechai – but they're still not gonna help us. So, let's just go." At the mention of their star, Mordachai, both of the geeks perked up, looking at Alex as she spoke.

"Yeah, you're right." Dean nodded. The trio began walking away, back to the car, with the two dim-wits following them.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa. What did you say about—? Hold on a second here." Ed started.

"Wait, wait. Yeah, what thing about Mordechai, you guys?"

"Don't tell 'em, Alex." Dean demanded.

"But if they agree to shut their website down, Dean-" Sam pressed. This part seemed to have a script, Alex noticed. It was as though they'd written the whole thing.

"They're not gonna do it. Even Alex agrees." Dean growled.

"No, wait, wait. Don't listen to him, okay? We'll do it." Alex stopped to face them, and Dean and Sam followed suit. "We'll do it." Ed repeated.

"It's a secret, Alex." Dean refused.

"Look, it is a pretty big deal, all right? And it wasn't easy to dig up. So, only if we have your word that you'll shut everything down." Alex ignored Dean.

"Totally." Ed agreed.

"All right." Dean took a piece of paper out of his pocket and handed it to the boys. "It's a death certificate from the thirties. We got it at the library. Now, according to the coroner, the actual cause of death was a self-inflicted gunshot wound." Alex told them. She was fairly sure that they wouldn't completely understand it, but they had filled it all in just in case.

"That's right, he didn't hang or cut himself." Sam nodded.

"He shot himself?" Harry asked, dumbfounded.

"Yup. With a .45 pistol. To this day, they say he's terrified of 'em." Alex nodded to herself, as though confirming it.

"Yeah, as a matter of fact, they say if you shoot him with a .45, loaded with these special wrought-iron rounds, you could kill the son of a bitch." Dean added. The boys smiled, and Harry ran back to the caravan, while Ed walked back, obviously restraining himself.

"That was easy." Alex observed. Dean and Sam looked at her.

"Alright. Let's get something to eat. I'm starved." Dean muttered.

* * *

Once again, Dean pulled the string. The wooden carving of the fishermen began to laugh, and, it sounded like it belonged in a cheap horror film, as the villain. Sam pulled the string to make it stop. Alex sat at the other end of the table, away from the wall it was mounted on.

"If you pull that string one more time, I'm gonna kill you." Sam told him, before letting the string go. Dean quickly got the carving laughing again, and Sam immediately tugged cord, cutting it short. Dean laughed at Sam's murderous expression.

"Come on, man. You need more laughter in your life, you know, you're way too tense." Sam ignored him, saying nothing, watching his laptop. "They post it yet?" Sam spun the computer around, to face Dean. He leaned closer and began to read. "'We have learned from reputable sources that Mordechai Murdoch has a fatal fear of firearms.' All right. How long do we wait?"

"Long enough for the new story to spread and the legend to change. I figure by nightfall, iron rounds will work on the sucker." Sam answered. He held up his bottle, and Alex tapped it.

"Sweet." Dean cried, and taped his own bottle against Sam's before taking a drink. He went to put the bottle back on the table, but he froze half way. He pulled his thumb off the bottle, and it stayed on his hand. Alex and Sam burst out laughing at him. "You didn't." Sam pulled a tube of superglue out from under the table.

"Oh, I did." Dean looked shocked, and stared at the bottle, wondering how the hell he was going to get it off. Sam pulled the string, and the carving began to laugh yet again.

* * *

Sneaking into a guarded house is relatively easy. Especially if you have the right tools. Namely, a laughing carving of a fisherman. Alex had tried to help Dean get the bottle off in the way that got the least amount of skin ripped off his hand, but apparently, that wasn't much. They escaped into the forest, and set the laughing piece of wood on one of the trees, pulling the string to get it laughing, and ran off.

Eventually, the police patrolling the area came across the noise, and went to investigate, giving the trio a moment of opportunity. They slipped in like shadows, straight into the house. One again, Dean and Sam trusted Alex enough to give her a gun, and this time, it wasn't loaded with rock salt. Also once again, Sam didn't have a torch, and Alex wondered why.

"I barely have any skin left on my palm." Dean growled at him

"So, you think old Mordechai's home?" Alex asked, trying to get the brothers to stop fighting. It was kinda cute, and funny some of the time, but right now, it just pissed her off. They were going too far with the pranks, and there was no way she could stop them. Not unless she wanted to fall prey to them, anyway. They made their way quickly towards the cellar door, pulling their guns up, ready to shoot the carp outta this thing.

"I don't know." Sam answered.

"Me neither." Ed said behind them. As one, Alex, Dean and Sam span around and pointed their guns at the two boys. They both jumped, and pulled their hands up into a world wide symbol of 'we mean no harm'.

"Whoa, whoa! Hey!" Ed yelled, obviously surprised at the movement at the guns aimed at their chest.

"What are you tryin' to do, get yourself killed?" Sam cried at them, pulling his gun up, so it wouldn't harm anyone. Alex let her gun fall, pointing at the floor, copying Dean, pointing the light at them. They were, like always, carrying a backpack each, both filled to the brim with 'tools'.

"We're just tryin' to get a book and movie deal, okay?" Ed answered.

"Well, you nearly got one on your death." Alex responded. Alex glanced at the cellar door, just as the sound of sharpening knives filtered through it. Sam and Dean whipped around, guns at the ready, locked on the door.

"Oh, crap. Uh, guys, you wanna go open that door for us?" Ed asked, as though he was the one in control of the situation. Alex rolled her eyes at his idiocy.

"Why don't you?" Dean retorted. A second later, Mordechai flung the door open, wielding the bloody axe, as described in the most recent story on him. Alex, Dean and Sam poured everything they had into the tulpa. After a few shots, however, it disappeared into the dark smoke-like form, the way it had done the last time they saw him.

"Oh, he's gone. He's gone." Ed seemed surprised he still had his life, and Alex knew that if she and the brothers hadn't been there, he would have lost it. Dean and Sam glanced at each other, and checked to see if the tulpa was anywhere near them.

"Did you get him?" Harry asked. Alex stayed with the wannabe ghost busters, hoping her presence would keep them there, out of the way.

"Oh, yeah, they got him." Ed replied.

"No, on camera, did you get him on camera?" Harry asked, surprising Alex by taking control. She guessed even sheep had to take the lead some time or another.

"Uh, I…" Ed looked at the camera, before Harry snatched it out of his hands. Before he could see anything, however, Mordechai returned, and implanted his axe in the machine. Harry fell to the floor with surprise, and the force of the blow, while Mordechi disappeared before Alex could get a shot off at him. Dean and Sam returned, guns at the ready.

"Hey. Didn't you guys post that bullshit story we gave you?" Alex demanded of Harry and Ed.

"Of course we did." Ed replied.

"Yeah, but then our server crashed." Harry answered right after him. Dean rolled his eyes.

"Yeah."

"So, it didn't take?" Dean asked. He hoped they said it did…

"Uh…"

"So, these guns don't work?" Dean demanded.

"Yeah."

"Great. Sam, Alex, any ideas?" Sam shrugged, having no idea what the hell they were going to do now.

"We are getting out of here." Harry shoved past Dean, Ed hot on his heels. Alex listened to them leave, looking back and forth from brother to brother, looking for an answer. Neither of them had one, but they didn't have long to think. They soon heard the geeks screaming. Alex raced off to see what the hell had happened.

"Mary and Joseph!" She heard Harry exclaim. Following their voices, she tracked them from the main room, where they seemed to have left, for some reason.

"The power of Christ compels you!_ The power of Christ compels you!"_ Ed yelled. Alex had a good idea of what had happened. She rounded a corner, and came up just short of colliding with Mordechai.

"Hey!" She yelled at him. As the thought form moved to her, she continued to yell, hoping to keep its attention on her. "Come and get it, you ugly son of a bitch." As Mordechai swung at her, she kicked his chest, sending him back a step. Unfortunately, this just made him angry. Instead of an over head chop, he swung at her from side on, and Alex managed to duck under it, but on the next one she wasn't so lucky. The wood caught her throat, and he pinned her to the wall. She remembered how, while in a blind rage, she'd accidentally telekinetically choked her sister to death. Now, she was the one to get it.

"Run!" Ed cried, and they charged past the monster they'd helped create.

"Yeah, we're outta here." Harry cried, reverting back to his original role of the follower. Alex watched them go, struggling to get the thing off her and break the choke hold.

Sam looked up from where he and Dean were throwing lighter fluid aver the floor as desperation and absolute fear filled him. Dean noticed his behaviour, not understanding why he'd stoped throwing the stuff.

"Alex." Sam whispered, before racing off. Dean, after grabbing an aerosol can, ran after him, calling his brother's name, hoping he'd somehow receive some kind of sense.

They found her, no problem, but Sam realised that he had no way of getting the tulpa's attention without endangering himself. Dean grabbed his lighter, flicked it and then called the thing's attention.

"Hey!" as it turned to look at Dean, he pressed the lid of the can, creating a home made flame thrower. Mordechai pulled his axe off Alex to deal with the new threat, and she fell to the floor. Sam darted over to her, and picked her up, taking her back behind Dean.

"Go, go, go! Come on." Dean cried. Alex quickly regained her feet, and threw Sam's arm of her, knowing it was slowing them both down. They raced to the front door, and Dean stopped, turning to Alex and Sam, knowing Sam had only done what he said, because he said it, with out knowing exactly why. Some kind of plan was better then none.

"Look, if Mordechai can't leave the house, and we can't kill him, we improvise." Dean told them. He flicked his lighter, and threw it to the ground, immediately cathing the fluid on the floor. The old, dry wood took the flames quickly, and they raced out, not wanting to be killed by either the flames or the tulpa.

"That's the solution?"Alex asked when they were safely in the bush.

"Burn the whole damn place to the ground?" Sam questioned as well.

"Well, no one will go in anymore. I mean, look, Mordechai can't haunt a house if there's no house to haunt. It's fast and dirty, but it works." Dean answered them both. Alex nodded, understanding his point.

"But, what if the legend changes again, and Mordechai _is_ allowed to leave the house?" Sam asked, knowing how it'd changed before.

"Well, then, we'll just have to come back." Dean answered. They all looked at each other, thinking the same thing.

"Kind of makes you wonder—of all the things we've hunted, how many existed just 'cause people believed in 'em?" Sam voiced. The trio thought about that as they made sure the whole house was destroyed.

They went back to the motel to pack, deciding to leave the next day. Alex decided that, if she was going too go hunting with these guys, she shouldn't hid things from them. So, she tried to practice telekineses. She didn't get far, and the head ache afterwards was a bitch, but she was improving. Well, it didn't take half an hour to use it, anyway. Dean and Sam each disappeared at one point or another. She wasn't sure what for or why, but she didn't press either of them.

They decided to go see Harry and Ed before they left, for old time's sake. They found their caravan, packed and ready to go, and traced the boys to the shops. They waited there, until both idiots came out, and began to walk with them.

"Gentlemen." Ed said to them as they passed. He then seemed to remember Alex. "And lady."

"Hey, guys." Alec and Sam cried. They started to walk with them, back to their caravan, and the Impala.

"Should we tell 'em?" Harry asked, well and truly back into sheep mode.

"Oh, you might as well, you know they're just gonna read about it in the trades." Ed answered. His superior tone made Alex feel like reminding him of how he'd screamed like a girl when he was cornered by the tulpa, and she had had to go rescue him.

"So, this morning, we got a phone call from a very important Hollywood producer." Harry began.

"Oh, yeah? Wrong number?" Dean asked.

"No, smartass. He read all about the Hell House on our website and wants to option the motion picture rights—maybe even have us write it." Ed answered, reaching their car.

"And create the RPG." Harry added, as though he knew what he was talking about. Well, he might in this, Alex thought.

"The what?" Dean asked, confused again.

"Role-playing game." Harry told them, trying to sound condescending.

"Right."

"It's a little lingo for ya. Any who, uh, excuse us, we're off to La-La Land." Ed said, getting into the car. Alex rolled her eyes, remembering La-La Land as being lost in thoughts.

"Well, congratulations, guys, that sounds really great." Sam said, nodded to them.

"Yeah, that's awesome. Best of luck to ya."

"Oh, yeah, _luck_—it's got nothin' to do with it. It's about talent, you know? Sheer, unabashed, _talent_." Ed gave them a piece sign.

"Right." Alex shook her head at him.

"Later." Ed nodded, and they drove off, caravan in tow, hooked to their car.

"Wow." Dean muttered, walking back to the Impala. They all traded glances.

"Well, I, for one, will be glad if I never see them again." Alex cried. Dean and Sam nodded, agreeing.

"I have a confession to make." Sam said as they walked off.

"What's that?" Dean asked, actually curious. Alex was interested as well, and they both looked at Sam waiting.

"I was the one who called them and told 'em I was a producer." Sam actually looked mock guilty. Alex and Dean laughed, joined by Sam. Dean and Alex looked in the direction the boys had just taken off in.

"Well, I'm the one who put the dead fish in their backseat." Dean said and they laughed again.

"Truce?" Sam asked, and Alex hoped they would go back to the way they had before, instead of the way they'd just been acting, trying to show down each other.

"Yeah, truce. At least for the next hundred miles." Dean grinned at Sam and Alex as they got into the car. They started to drive off, not sure where they were going next. "So, Sam, wanna let me in on the secret of how the hell you always seem to know when Alex is in danger?" Dean asked.

Sam and Alex shared a look. They didn't really know how to tell him. Sam sent encouragement to Alex through their link and Alex threw back resentment. He shrugged at her. Dean followed the exchange with his eyes, darting from Sam to Alex and then the road.

Sam sighed. "Alex and I can kind of read each other's emotions." He answered.

"Yeah, so can I. it's called 'reading body language' genius." Dean replied.

"In our minds. We can send each other an emotion." Alex told him. Dean went silent.

"_And_ we have no idea why." Sam added after a second.

"Then I guess we're just gonna hafta figure this out." Dean nodded. Alex understood now. She'd been accepted - she was now a hunter.


	11. Something Wicked

**Disclaimer:** I don't own _Supernatural _nor do I own Sam or Dean. And, well, let's face it, thank god for that. Otherwise, it would probably suck.

**Beta:** Wingedteen

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Defiance

'Thy angels watch me through the night and keep me safe till morning light.' A little girl's prayers are no match for a Shtriga, a powerful witch with terrifying ties to the Winchester brothers' childhoods.

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Something Wicked.

They were on the road again, headed to someplace called Fitchburg, Wisconsin. Alex wasn't sure why exactly, but they were. Dean had gotten a text message, pulled out a map and they'd left, Sam looking for something supernatural in the town. Alex had seen the message; all it contained was bunch of numbers.

"Yeah, you probably missed somethin', that's why." Dean argued with Sam, once again. Alex rolled her eyes at them both. While she loved them, she really did, they some times pissed her off to no end.

"Dude, I ran LexisNexis, local police reports, newspapers—I couldn't find a single red flag. Are you sure you got the coordinates right?" Sam maintained his idea the whole trip, and Alex was surprised. She was getting sick of their squabbling. At least she knew what the numbers were for now.

"Yeah, I double-checked. It's Fitchburg, Wisconsin. Look, Dad wouldn't have sent us coordinates if it wasn't important, Sammy." Dean answered. Alex had long ago learnt to listen to them, finding out more from their arguments then she did from her questions. Their dad, however, was someone she never asked about. Somehow, she knew it was an untouchable subject, one they would close down on her if she so much as mentioned him.

"Well, I'm tellin' you, I looked, and all I could find was a big, steaming pile of nothin'. If Dad's sending us hunting for something, I don't know what." Sam responded. Alex shook her head and went back to lifting the necklace in her hand. She'd written all the information in John's journal down in her own, so, now, she was just trying to master her new gift.

"Well, maybe he's gonna meet us there." Alex perked at the idea, but she wasn't sure if she really wanted to meet the man who cut himself out of his son's lives so completely and utterly.

"Yeah, 'cause he's been so easy to find up to this point." Although Alex never let on about it, she had witnessed Sam searching for any sign of his father on the net many times. She would call it pathetic, but, if she knew who her real dad was, she'd probably be doing the same thing.

"You're a real smartass, you know that? Don't worry, I'm sure there's somethin' in Fitchburg worth killin'." Dean assured them. Alex began sweating, although she wasn't warm. The effort of holding the pendent with her gaze was tiring. She let it fall into her hand and, and clipped it back around her neck, bracing herself for the migraine that she knew was coming.

"Yeah? What makes you so sure?" Sam asked. Alex hissed quietly as something began beating the inside of her head with a bat. Sam shot her a worried glace, telling her that she had hide the fact better next time. She didn't want or need them to be worried about her. Dean, however, hadn't seemed to have heard her, and continued the argument.

"Well, because I'm the oldest, which means I'm always right." Dean improvised.

"No, it doesn't." Alex disagreed. She was the youngest, Sam beating her by a day.

"Yeah, it totally does." Dean grinned at her, happy that she'd joined the family's recreational activity: being annoying. He was glad he'd finally gotten under her skin.

"So, by that reasoning, does that mean that I'm always wrong." Alex knew she was only pressing so hard because her head hurt like hell. She couldn't help it, though.

"Something like that." Dean replied.

"Enough!" Sam told them both, knowing Alex's temper, and the way she was eyeing Dean. If they insulted each other much more, with Alex's headache, temper and abilities, they'd be cleaning up after Dean's body.

They entered the town, and Dean went to get his much needed coffee. At the same time, he'd try find out about what the hell was happening, using all he had at his disposal. Needing to get out of the car, Sam and Alex stood against it, looking opposite ways.

"Do you know the time?" Sam asked. Alex glanced over at him.

"No, why?" Sam glanced at her and shook his head. Alex shrugged at him and went back to watching her side of the car.

"Hey." She called out to Dean when she saw him. Her headache had abated, so she could think, and she knew that Dean was the one with most the knowledge, so she had some sucking up to do. "Anything?" she asked.

"Well, the waitress thinks that the local freemasons are up to somethin' sneaky, but, uh, other than that, nobody's heard about anything weird goin' on." He answered. Alex nodded, not sure what that meant.

"Dean, you got the time?" Sam asked once again. Alex began wondering what his fascination with time was. Dean checked his watch, reading it in a few seconds.

"Ten after four. Why?" he looked over at Sam and Alex did the same, hoping that he would at least answer his brother.

"What's wrong with this picture?" Sam asked instead. Dean and Alex followed Sam's gaze, looking out to a playground. Generally, kids would have flocked to it, running around screaming, playing and having the occasional fight. But, for one reason or another, it was practically empty, save for a small girl and her mother.

"School's over, right?" Alex asked, looking at the wrongly peaceful scene.

"Yeah. So, where is everybody? This place should be crawlin' with kids right now." Sam answered. Memories of her childhood raced through Alex's head, many of them in a playground, sprinting from her sisters.

Dean walked over to the girl's mother, and Alex moved to follow. Sam grabbed the back of her shirt, jerking her to a stop. She sent him a thought of curiosity, and he shook his head at her.

"Let him handle it." he answered.

"It sure is quiet out here." Dean observed as he walked over. The women glanced at him before turning back to her book.

"Yeah, it's a shame." She agreed.

"Why's that?"

"You know, kids getting sick. It's a terrible thing." Dean nodded, agreeing, knowing how parents felt about their kids. After all, he'd practically raised Sam.

"How many?" he asked, wondering if this was just a bad case of the common cold and they were being paranoid, or if this was something they should look into.

"Just five or six, but serious—hospital serious. A lot of parents are getting pretty anxious. They think it's catching."

Dean nodded and watched the girl on the abandoned playground equipment for a few more minutes before walking back to Alex and Sam.

"Now what?" Alex asked, seeing what she had come to name as Dean's hunting face. Dean looked up at them and got into the car.

"Now, we go to the hospital." He answered. They stopped by a copy store to make an ID for Alex. She knew it was annoying Dean a little, but she also knew that she was going to have to get used to the idea of fake IDs and even faker names, judging by the crap the boys had. She felt all wrong as they handed her a fake one, but she knew that she need to do this. They stopped by a few clothes stores to pick up an outfit, which made her look the part more than the jeans and leather jacket she had on.

They changed quickly, Alex pulling on the brown shirt and blue leggings with out complaint. She traded her boots for some ugly white shoes, and pulled a white coat on. She was ready to go. Meanwhile, the boys had jumped into suits, Dean in a black one, white undershirt and a white spotted red tie. Sam however, had a tweed suit, light blue undershirt with squares and a horrid bronze tie.

Alex snickered when she saw them, and they both payed her back in kind. Just before they entered the hospital, Dean gave them their IDs.

"Dude, dude, I am _not_ using this ID." Sam said, looking at it as they walked in. Alex looked at Sam like he was crazy, and sent him the same thing through their link. Sam ignored her, still looking at Dean, so she voiced her confusion.

"Why not?" she asked.

"Because it says 'bikini inspector' on it." Sam refused to back down. Alex snickered, laughing along with Dean. They were walking towards the front desk so they knew this conversation was going to be short.

"I guess a guy's gotta have fun somehow." Alex muttered.

"Exactly." Dean agreed. When Sam continued to glare at him he continued. "Well, this is her first time, so Alex can't do it, and I don't particularly want to. Don't worry, she won't look that close. Hell, she won't even ask to see it. It's all about confidence, Sammy." Dean finished the argument by turning Sam to the front desk, leaving him no choice in the matter. Alex followed Dean, and they waited in the middle of the room, watching him.

"Hi, I'm Dr. Jerry Kaplan, Centre for Disease Control." Sam said, sounding sure of himself, he smiled like he did it all day.

"Can I see some ID?" the receptionist asked him, as they all knew she would. Dean and Alex struggled not to laugh at him, and Sam sent them both a glare, making it all the harder for them.

"Yeah, of course." He smiled again, this time through gritted teeth. He took the ID out of his jacket and showed her it, pulling it away almost immediately, not wanting to show her the joke his brother had played. "Now, could you direct me to the paediatrics' ward, please?" he asked.

"Okay, just go down that hall, turn left, and up the stairs." Sam smiled at her, before turning a giving Alex and Dean a murderous glare. He was getting sick of being the butt end of the jokes.

"See? I told you it'd work." Dean smiled at Sam. Sam didn't relent, though, glaring at Dean more than Alex. As far as he knew, she might find it funny, but she wouldn't put him in the position herself. He shook his head at his older sibling.

"Follow me. It's upstairs." He muttered, walking off, Alex and Dean following behind him.

As they went, Dean stopped, forcing Alex to pause behind him. She moved to see what he was staring at. A door to one of the rooms was open, but Alex couldn't see what had caught Dean's eye. The only thing remotely interesting in the room was an old lady, seventy or eighty sitting in her wheelchair. The lady turned to give them both a glare, stronger then what you'd expect from a woman that age. She still didn't find what had caught Dean's interest, but from what she knew, it could have been anything.

"Alex, Dean" they both turned their attention to Sam. He jerked his head towards the end of the hall, his meaning clear. Dean moved, allowing Alex to continue following. She gave the room another look, still wondering what had caught Dean's attention, before she followed after Sam knowing she had a part to play.

"Well, thanks for seein' us, Dr. Hydecker." Alex nodded to the man in question as they walked up to him. He tuned to match their pace, obviously wanting to get back to the kids.

"Oh, I'm glad you guys are here. I was just about to call the CDC myself. How'd you find out, anyway?" he asked. With out so much as a second of hesitation, Dean answered.

"Oh, some GP, I forget his name, he called Atlanta, and, uh, must have beat you to the punch."

"So, you say you got six cases so far?" Sam questioned, getting back to business, for both of them: finding out what was wrong with these kids. True, they were going about it in completely different ways, but they were trying to do the same thing.

"Yeah, in five weeks. At first, we thought it was garden-variety bacterial pneumonia—not that newsworthy. But now…" they stopped by a wall made of glass windows. Behind them, they could see kids, obviously very sick, probably in isolation considering their condition.

"What?" Alex questioned. Even with her lack of knowledge, she knew it wasn't good when a Doctor trailed off.

"The kids aren't responding to antibiotics. Their white cell counts keep goin' down. Their immune systems just aren't doin' their job. It's like their bodies are wearing out." Alex looked at Sam and Dean, raising a brow, before turning back to the doctor.

"Excuse me, Dr. Hydecker." A blond nurse called to him, walking up.

"You ever see anything like this before?" Sam questioned. Alex reframed from looking over eager for this information. She knew she was probably doing a very poor job at role playing a Doctor, especially from the Centre of Disease Control.

"Never this severe." He took the clip board the nurse was holding up to him and signed it.

"The way it spreads—that's a new one for me." the nurse added. Alex's interest jumped up a level, copying her limited sense of hunting.

"What do you mean?" Alex asked. A new way of spreading would be very bad. After all, they already had it by touching, coughing, sneezing, breathing and plain being in the same room. That wasn't including hereditary diseases, either.

"It works its way through families, but only the children—one sibling after another." The nurse answered. Alex shot a look at the brothers she was with, thinking that it might just be because they were closer then the parents. She remembered that she would go to her sisters before her Dad, just because she trusted them more. Her dad was there to teach her how to behave as well as be her Dad. Her sisters would comfort her.

"Do you mind if we interview a few of the kids?" Dean asked, knowing a first hand account could make everything fall into place. It had happened countless times before, and it could happen now.

"They're not conscious." The nurse answered. Alex froze with shock. That really couldn't be good.

"None of them?"

"No."

"Can we, uh—can we talk to the parents?" Dean asked. He knew that wouldn't be as good as the kid's words, but it was probably better then nothing. Or, at least, he hoped it would be. The idea of sick children always seemed worse then adults.

"If you think it'll help." The Doctor agreed.

"Yeah. Who was your most recent admission?" Dean asked. The Doctor nodded, and motioned for them to wait in another hall. He went to a door, knocked on it. Alex only just heard the name he called out to whoever was inside.

"Mr. Tarnower?" there was movement and a man appeared. He talked briefly with Hydecker, before disappearing for a few seconds and emerging again. He walked over to where Alex, Dean and Sam were and sat, looking at them expectantly.

"I should get back to my girls." The man said. Alex nodded and sat next to him, placing her hand on his shoulder in what she hoped was a comforting gesture.

"We understand and really appreciate you talkin' to us. After all, this could help save your kids and all the others." She told him before pulling her hand off. She turned away and bit her lip, hoping she hadn't just over done the sympathy.

"Now, you say Mary's the oldest?" Sam asked, knowing this was a delicate subject, and there was no way in hell that he was just leaving it to Dean. Sure, he knew it was a touchy subject when your child was in hospital, but he didn't really know how to handle it properly. He wasn't sure if Alex did either. She'd probably just sit there and try comforting them. Her idea did help get the information, though. Her instincts on these matters were fairly good.

"Thirteen."

"Okay. And she came down with it first, right? And then…" Sam continued looking for clues as to what was happening.

"Bethany the next night."

"Within twenty-four hours?" Alex asked, slightly amazed. If it was some kind of really dangerous virus, it was fast moving. On one hand, she hoped this thing was supernatural. That way they could stop it from happening to a lot of other children. On the other, she hoped it was normal, because there was no guarantee that getting rid of a supernatural origin would help the kids to recover.

"I guess." The man looked towards the room he'd just come out of. Alex felt for the father. "Look, I already went through all this with the doctor."

"All right, now, just a few more questions, if you don't mind. How do you think they caught pneumonia? Were they out in the cold, anything like that?" Dean asked, getting to the point. He was sick of Alex and Sam skittering around the issue.

"No, we think it was an open window." Mr. Tarnower answered, turning to Dean.

"Both times?" Dean asked ignoring the looks Sam and Alex were giving him. He was fairly sure that the father appreciated the fact that he was getting down to the point. If a window was open, it could mean anything. Something got in, something they needed to kill. Or it could just have gotten too cold.

"The first time, I don't really remember. But the second time, for sure. I know I closed it before I put Bethany to bed."

"So, you think she opened it?" Sam was surprised. Most children weren't as stupid as their parents might have thought.

"It's a second-story window, no ledge. No one else could have." Sam, Dean and Alex looked at each other. Alex was the one to act first, thinking of the poor father.

"Thank you for your time. You've been a great help." She told the man. He hurried back to the room. Alex joined Sam and Dean as they made their way out of the hospital.

"You know, this might be pneumonia, plain and simple." She told Dean. He looked at her and nodded.

"Maybe. Or maybe somethin' opened that window. I don't know. Look, Dad sent us down here for a reason. I think we might be barkin' up the right tree." He answered. Alex rolled her eyes, not understanding why Dean was acting so strange. It was like he would follow the man to his death if he so much as asked. She didn't understand it.

"I'll tell you one thing." Sam interrupted Alex's thoughts

"What?" Dean asked.

"That guy we just talked to? I'm bettin' it'll be a while before he goes home." Sam and Dean shared a look, once again leaving Alex in the dark. Dean pulled out the file for the girl whose dad they'd just seen, and began reading. Alex followed behind them, though, keeping silent, trying to get one of them to explain to her without her asking. Her patience wasn't angelic, however.

"What?" she asked just as they reached the doors. They walked out, moving quickly to the car. They got into their constant companion, and they all quickly changed out of the annoying outfits that they'd been in. Alex ripped the stupid white coat off, and pulled of the shirt. She was still wearing a thin, tight singlet, and she pulled her normal clothes on over that. The pants were a little more difficult, and made her a lot more self conscious, but she pulled off the shoes, and stupid leggings, and tugged her jeans back on. Sam and Dean were changing at the same time, and no one looked at any of the others.

Alex still had no idea what they were doing when they pulled up outside a house. Sam and Dean jumped out, grabbing a few things out of the trunk. Alex followed, and they threw things at her to carry before racing to one of the houses. Dean pulled something out of his pocket, something that looked a bit like a nail filing kit. The instruments inside, however, looked nothing like what Helen had owned, and it finally clicked on what it was when Dean got to work opening the lock.

"We're breaking and entering?" she hissed at them both. They looked at her, Dean's brow raised, questioning her outburst.

"It's not like we didn't do this at the hell house." Dean answered, reminding Alex of their last job, her first hunt.

"That was different. It was an old shack that no one lived in." she hissed back.

"Yeah, well, we did worse there. We could get done for destruction of property." Dean continued at the lock, trying to get them damn thing open.

"It was going to burn down eventually." Alex reminded them. Sam watched them arguing back and forward before stepping in.

"What did you think we were doing when we entered the shack?" Sam asked, getting in the middle of their fight.

"I considered it fact finding." Alex answered. At that moment, Dean heard the lock click, and twisted the handle, pushing the door open.

"Then consider this fact finding." Dean told her, giving her his trade mark smile before disappearing inside. Sam followed after him, and after a second's hesitation, so did Alex. They quickly located the room, and Sam and Dean grabbed the tools out of Alex's hands. She recognised one of them as the EMF reader, but she still had no idea how it worked. They moved quickly around the room, looking for something.

"You got anything over there?" Sam asked after a while. Dean looked at the instrument in his hands and noted that it had absolutely no reaction: no sound at all, no lights.

"No, nothin'." He answered.

"Yeah, me neither." They continued looking, Alex watching. She had no idea what the hell they were doing, but she turned as Sam went to the window. He went to move away, before spinning back, getting her attention immediately. "Hey, Dean?"

"Yeah?" Sam opened the window. He looked down at something, and Alex hurried over to see what it was.

"You were right. It's not pneumonia." Dean looked down at the black handprint, fingers stretched out over the white window. "It's rotted."

"What the hell leaves a handprint like that?" Alex asked. Dean continued to stare at the mark, his mind straying back. He'd seen it before, in a photograph. He fell into the memory, watching in his mind as John came out of the bedroom in their rented space, carrying his bag of weapons.

"_All right. You know the drill, Dean. If anybody calls, you don't pick up. If it's me, I'll ring once and then call back. You got that?" he said. He grabbed the photo off the table and placed it into the journal, away from Sam's prying eyes. He took the journal with him, that way Sam would never stumble across it._

"_Mmhmm. Don't answer the phone unless it rings once first." Dean responded. He knew this like his own name by now. He'd done it so many times._

"_Come on, dude, look alive. This stuff's important." John chided his eldest son._

"_I know, it's just—we've gone over it, like, a million times, and you know I'm not stupid." He was far from it, actually. He knew all about what his Dad did, and what was out there, killing people._

"_I know you're not. But it only takes one mistake, you got that?" John tried to enforce this on Dean, who nodded. "All right, if I'm not back Sunday night?"_

"_Call Pastor Jim." Dean knew he could recite this crap in his sleep._

"_Lock the doors and windows, close the shades, and most important-"_

"_Watch out for Sammy." Dean looked at his younger brother. He was still innocent, watching TV. He had no idea about any of this stuff. "I know."_

"_All right, if somethin' tries to bust in?" John asked the most basic question. He knew he'd drilled it all into him, but he wasn't sure if it would take affect. He sure as hell hoped it would, as it could mean the difference between them living and dieing._

"_Shoot first, ask questions later." Dean answered the obvious. John put his hand on Dean's shoulder. He wasn't a very affectionate father, so it was practically a hug. _

"_That's my man." John left the room, leaving Sam in Dean's hands. Dean quickly locked the door and turned back to his innocent little brother._

Dean pulled himself back to the room, Alex and a twenty-two year old Sam next to him.

"I know why Dad sent us here. He's faced this thing before." Sam was confused at the idea. His dad never left something like that alive. "He wants us to finish the job." Dean clarified. He walked out of the house, Alex and Sam following. He got into the car, throwing the EMF reader in the back for Alex to catch. She placed it down on the seat next to her, happy that she hadn't had to resort to her ability to save the thing from breaking. It'd been close, though.

As they drove, Sam and Alex pushed Dean for information. After racking his brains the whole trip for something safe to tell them, Dean remembered something as he pulling up at motel.

"It's called a Shtriga."

"And what the hell is that?" Alex asked, yet again feeling like she was out of the loop. She had a feeling they'd do this over and over again, and she'd just have to sit back and watch.

"It's kind of like a witch, I think. I don't know much about 'em." Dean said as he decided it was safe. He walked to the trunk to grab a few things, namely a gun.

"Well, I've never heard of it." Sam told him.

"And it's not in your Dad's journal." Alex added. She didn't feel so out of the loop at the fact that Sam had no idea what it was either. It was strange, though, that Dean knew something that Sam didn't. Sam was the research guru.

"Dad hunted one in Fort Douglas, Wisconsin about sixteen, seventeen years ago. You were there," he said turning to Sam. "You don't remember?"

"No."

"Yeah, I guess he caught wind that the thing's in Fitchburg now and kicked us the coordinates." Dean seemed to be hiding something, Alex noticed. She didn't know what and she had no idea how she knew, but it was a gut feeling. And after a short time in this world, she'd leant to trust it, no matter what.

"So, wait this…" Sam started, forgetting the thing's name.

"Shtriga."

"Right. You think it's the same one Dad hunted before?" Sam questioned. Alex stayed out of the squabble, knowing it wasn't her place. Dean shut the trunk and walked to the motel reception.

"Yeah, maybe." Dean answered. Alex had no idea why he was pressing so hard.

"But if Dad went after it, why is it still breathing air?" Sam didn't relent. Alex stayed very quiet, trying to put the pieces together about their Dad. It wasn't easy, as they mostly had arguments, scattered here and there.

"'Cause it got away."

"Got away?" Sam seemed incredulous, like it was the most absurd thing he'd ever heard of. Apparently, their dad killed anything he came across.

"Yeah, Sammy, it happens." Dean seemed on edge about having to clarify it, annoyed even.

"Not very often." Sam replied. Alex noted this in her head. Apparently, their dad was like some legendary hunter, one that didn't let things live. Or, at least that's what she made of their comments. Or, and to her, this seemed unlikely, he didn't go hunting often and only hunted something relatively easy. But, from the way the boys acted, and how she imagined they'd been brought up, she was inclined to go with her first idea.

"Well, I don't know what to tell you. I mean, maybe Dad didn't have his Wheaties that morning." Dean retorted. Sick of the argument, although she was getting much wanted information, Alex tried to make some kind of temporary peace between the brothers. Or distract them from arguing with each other again.

"Do you remember anything else?" she asked. This was still slightly on topic, and wouldn't be a blunt distraction.

"No, I was a kid, all right?" Dean half yelled at her. She didn't take it personally. He was annoyed, and they didn't like her asking questions. He was still worked up, and disappeared into the reception office by himself. She didn't blame him.

The counter was unattended when he reached it, so, taking notice of the bell in front of him, he rang it. A young boy, twelve or thirteen came out from the back. His hair was long, rivalling Sam's, but it was a muddy blond. His eyes were a light green, matching his shirt.

"King or two queens?" he asked, and Dean could tell he was just reciting what he always asked. Although it wasn't intentional, or at least, he hoped not, Dean glanced outside, looking at Alex and Sam. He didn't really want to have to share with either of them, and was fairly sure the feeling was mutual between them.

"Two queens." Dean answered, smiling. Alex could have the floor again. After all, she was the tag along and didn't seem to mind all that much. The boy looked outside, noticing Sam and Alex. Sam looked up from the notes Alex had handed him when Dean left, and tried to see how the check in was going at that time.

"Yeah, I bet." The boy muttered.

"What'd you say?" Dean warned, sick of the gay jokes. He looked up from where he was writing down the room number and gave Dean something else he'd noticed at his glance through the window.

"Nice car." The boy smiled, a very fake smile, but Dean knew the comment about the car was true. He didn't take offence or try to tell the boy off. That was for his parents. As he thought that, a lady walked in, the door opening loudly. Dean turned to face her and he smiled.

"Hi." She said, smiling back at him.

"Hi."

"Checking in?" she asked. She seemed friendly, if a bit districted.

"Yeah."

"Do me a favour, go get your brother some dinner." She said to the boy.

"I'm helpin' a guest." He complained. The lady, his mother by the look of it, glared at him before rounding the desk. The boy nodded to Dean before heading off. "Two queens." He raised an eyebrow suggestively before walking out the back to do as his mum bid.

"Funny kid." Dean said, hoping to let the lady relax a bit. She smiled at him.

"Oh, yeah, he thinks so. Will that be cash or credit?" was her response to Dean's observation. She was good at this, he noticed. Answering questions and staying on task. He wondered how long she'd been doing this job.

"You take MasterCard?"

"Mmhmm."

"Perfect." He took the said card out of his wallet and placed it on the desk. She took it and went to swipe it while pushing the book towards Dean to sign. He looked up and saw the boy that had just been serving him pouring milk for someone a few years younger. He reminded Dean much of himself, living in motels, growing up and looking out for his younger sibling. The sight made him think back to one of the times he was looking after Sam when he was younger. He'd been nine or ten, he couldn't really remember, and Sam had been five or six.

_At the time, Dean had also been pouring milk for Sam. His little brother had gotten hungry, reminding Dean that he needed to feed the youngest._

"_When's Dad gonna get back?" Sam asked. He didn't know what their father did, and Dean wanted to keep it that way for a while._

"_Tomorrow." Dean put the milk carton down and pushed the cup of milk to Sam before returning to the stove for the requested Spaghetti O's. It wasn't the oldest's favourite kind of food, but it was what they had at the time. _

"_When?" Sam asked. Dean spooned the food into Sam's bowl, forcing down the repulsive shiver that had made itself known at the sight of it._

"_I don't know. He usually comes in late, though. Now, eat your dinner." Dean hoped that it was enough information for Sam and he'd stop asking questions. He wasn't sure though._

"_I'm sick of Scabetti O's." Sam said, looking at his bowl. Dean was happy that he'd dropped the subject now, but he wasn't sue he liked the turn it'd taken._

"_Well, you're the one who wanted 'em." Dean was surprised and annoyed now. He'd wanted them five minutes ago, and now he didn't? It was enough to drive any kid up the wall._

"_I want Lucky Charms." Sam responded. Dean had a sinking feeling in his gut._

"_There's no more Lucky Charms." He told Sam. He was lying, but it wasn't fair. Sam had eaten nearly the whole thing and he had to give him what he wanted?_

"_I saw the box." Sam knew what he was talking about. There was more of the marshmallow-y goodness left._

"_Okay, maybe there is, but there's only enough left for one bowl, and I haven't had any yet." Sam looked pleadingly at Dean, his face going sad. Feeling slightly guilty at his outburst, Dean walked over and grabbed the bowl of spaghetti O's. Knowing that they wouldn't be any good in the morning, and having no inclination to eat them himself, he chucked them into the bin and snatched up the box of charms. In his other hand, he grabbed a fresh bowl and slammed them both on the table in front of Sam. Sam looked inside the box and pulled what he was looking for out of the box._

"_Do you want the prize?" Sam asked, eyes shining in hope his brother wouldn't be mad._

"Sir?" the lady held his card out to Dean, and he blinked away the memory. Now wasn't the time for it. He took the card out of her waiting hand, giving her a smile.

"Thanks." He took another form from her, signed it, and took the offered key. His gaze still flickered to the young boy that reminded him of him. Dean headed out to where Alex and Sam were waiting for him, and drove the Impala closer to their room.

Alex quickly claimed a piece of the floor for her bed before searching the books for a Shtriga. Sam settled himself on his own bed and began to research as well, using a satellite internet deal he'd made back at Stanford. After a while, Dean got himself a coffee, tired from reading the books they had in search of a kind of witch.

"Well, you were right. It wasn't very easy to find, but you were right. A Shtriga _is_ a kind of witch. They're Albanian, but legends about 'em date back to ancient Rome. They feed off of _spiritus vitae_." Sam said finally. Alex sighed as she gladly peeled her eyes away from the folk lore books she'd been assigned to. If she had to read one more page, her brain would turn to mush.

"_Spiri_-what?" Dean asked. Alex silently agreed with him. She'd just read half a book and wasn't up to playing twenty questions right now.

"Vitae. It's Latin—it translates to 'breath of life'." Sam answered as he read it off the computer. They could read and understand basic Latin, but they didn't know every word. After all, it was supposedly a dead language.

"Like your soul or life force?" Alex asked. She'd heard the phrase before, somewhere, and knew it wasn't an exact term.

"Yeah."

"Didn't the doctor say the kids' bodies were wearin' out?" Dean added. There was that, too. Alex remembered that the Doctor had mentioned something like it.

"There's an idea. Most things say that it's impossible to live without it, so maybe their bodies are slowly dieing, and the cells aren't able to duplicate themselves fast enough. Then pneumonia sets in." Alex summarised what they were all thinking. Sam and Dean gave her an odd look that she ignored, not knowing what it was about.

"Anyway," Sam continued the discussion, "Shtrigas can feed off anyone, but they prefer-"

"Children." Dean finished the sentence. Sam and Alex shot each other a feeling of annoyance, knowing what the other meant. He'd said he couldn't remember anything else.

"Yeah. Probably because they have stronger life force. And get this—Shtrigas are invulnerable to all weapons devised by God and man." Sam once again read from the website.

"No. That's not right. She's vulnerable when she feeds." Dean said. Alex and Sam turned to look at him, and Alex voiced her confusion.

"What?" she asked, keeping her exasperation out of her voice. It wouldn't help anyone if Dean was annoyed as well.

"If you catch her when she's eating, you can blast her with consecrated wrought irons, buckshot's, or rounds, I think." Dean expanded his answer. Sam and Alex shared a glance when Dean's back was turned. Sam was shocked at Dean's answer. He'd never expected Dean to lie to him. Alex was just annoyed. Couldn't he see that it was a stupid idea?

"How do you know that?" Sam asked, showing his slight feeling of betrayal. Alex looked at him, and tried to give him some comfort through their link.

"Dad told me. I remember." Dean replied, not noticing the emotion in Sam's voice.

"Did he mention anything _else_?" Alex hissed at Dean.

"No. That's it." Dean answered, nonchalantly. He looked up at them, and noticed their stares. Alex knew he was lying at worst and omitting at best. "What?"

"Nothin'." Alex answered. She turned to Sam, who got off his bed and went for a cup of coffee.

"Okay, so, assuming we _can_ kill it when it eats, we still gotta find the thing first, which ain't gonna be a cakewalk. Shtrigas take on a human disguise when they're not hunting." Sam continued talking like there was absolutely nothing wrong, something Alex knew was hard. If they were lying, it'd be a bitch to find out.

"What kind of human disguise?" Dean responded, trying to find out about this hunt. Not that research was his favourite part. Far from it actually. He much preferred the hands-on parts.

"Historically, something innocuous—it could be anything. But it's usually a feeble old woman, which may be how the whole witches-as-old-crones legend got started." Dean looked at Sam with interest before rushing to his bag sitting on the end off his bed.

"Hang on." He pulled out a map and spread it across the table. Alex got up and joined him in staring at the map, not sure what she was looking at.

"What?"

"Check this out." Sam moved over to look at the map. Three houses had red crosses on them, obviously drawn on by Dean. He ran his finger around them, in an arch. "I marked down all the addresses of the victims. Now, these are the houses that have been hit so far, and dead centre?" he was talking to Sam, that was obvious, but Alex answered, just to remind him she was there.

"The hospital." She said.

"The hospital." Dean voice almost overlapped hers. "When we were there, I saw a patient—an old woman." Alex remembered the women. He'd stopped to look in the room. She still didn't know why, and she wasn't following his train of thought, either.

"An old person, huh?" Sam asked. He sounded half serious, which was better then Alex would have managed.

"Yeah." Dean answered, looking weirdly at Sam. Alex smiled at him, silently encouraging him to go on.

"In the hospital? Whew. Better call the coast guard." Sam laughed and Alex joined him, nudging Dean because he didn't seem to get the joke.

"Well, listen, smartass, she had an inverted cross hangin' on her wall." Sam's smile faded, and Alex looked at him in confusion.

"So what?"

"As a general rule, the inverted cross means that which is evil." Dean told her. She thought back to the old lady's room, and the cross, seeing it with new meaning.

* * *

They didn't have to sneak into the hospital. They just walked in and strolled down the halls. No one really took any notice of them, just paid attention to their own business. They did, however try not to draw attention to themselves, making it look like they were supposed to be there.

"Good night, Dr. Hydecker." Betty, the nurse said. They all froze, and turned around, hoping he wouldn't look at them and recognise them as the 'CDC'.

"See you tomorrow, Betty."

"Try to get some sleep." The doctor walked past Dean, Sam and Alex into another hall, and they waited for the pretty nurse to leave the hall as well before moving on. Using Sam's memory, they found the room that Dean had seen the inverted cross on. Dean took his gun out and Alex did the same, knowing the boys as she did that Sam was more cautious than Dean when it came to discovery. Sam looked at them strangely, before Dean twitched his gun, telling Sam to open the door.

They slipped in almost silently, Sam closing the door behind them. Dean went to stand next to the old woman, while Alex and Sam, who had pulled out his own gun, covered her from behind. Once they were all in place, Dean leaned closer to her, and she didn't move. He looked at her, taking in her white hair and cloudy grey eyes. They were open, for what ever reason. He'd heard stories of people going to sleep with their eyes open.

"Who the hell are you?" the old women asked suddenly, turning to face Dean. He jumped and stumbled back, hitting a cupboard on the floor. He quickly sat on it, his legs momentarily unable to support him. Sam and Alex started, but not as badly as Dean. They all lowered their guns. "Who's there?" Alex moved to the door and turned the light on. "You tryin' to steal my stuff? They're always stealin' around here."

"No, ma'am, we're maintenance. We're sorry, we thought you were sleepin'." Sam tried to assure the woman. Dean rubbed his hand down his face, trying to calm down. Alex looked over at Dean, trying to gauge whether or not he was well enough to talk.

"Oh, nonsense. I was sleepin' with my peepers open!" the old woman laughed, and Alex suppressed a shudder at the noise. It was very creepy, and may haunt her for the rest of f life. "And fix that crucifix, would ya? I've asked four damn times already." Dean turned around and tapped the top of the cross. It swung down into the normal position. He turned to Sam and Alex and jerked his head, as a 'huh' gesture.

They headed back to the motel, and although it went against what she'd done her whole life, as she'd been quite a night owl, Alex fell asleep, preserving her strength. Sam noticed the change from her habits although Alex didn't. It was strange that she'd fallen into the motions of a hunter so quickly and easily. And that she seemed to fit with him and Dean.


	12. Somewhat Evil

**Disclaimer:** I don't own _Supernatural _nor do I own Sam or Dean. And, well, let's face it, thank god for that. Otherwise, it would probably suck.

**Beta:** Wingedteen

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Defiance

'Thy angels watch me through the night and keep me safe till morning light.' A little girl's prayers are no match for a Shtriga, a powerful witch with terrifying ties to the Winchester brothers' childhoods.

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Somewhat Evil- (Something Wicked II)

Alex woke first. Knowing the other two hunters, she silently slipped into the kitchen and began to make coffee for them. Not needing it herself, she let the aroma waft through the room, and woke Sam and Dean without the need for a wrestling match. They both gratefully accepted their cups, and Alex saw it as an improvement that they didn't pour it in the sink for fear of it being poisoned.

As the boys sat and sipped their morning drink, no one said anything. The thing that ended up breaking the silence happened to be Dean's stomach. Sam and Alex looked over at him and smiled. Everyone knew what they were going to do now, and headed off for something that would pass as breakfast.

As they drove back, the talk changed to Dean and his hordes of women. Alex knew what Dean was like, and she knew he was proud of it. She also knew he was cocky and arrogant, so she decided to have an argument for the fun of it. Eventually, like she knew it would, the argument turned to the old lady they'd met the night before.

When they pulled up outside the motel, Sam and Alex were laughing their heads off.

"'I was sleepin' with my peepers open'?" Sam cried as he got out of the car before continuing to laugh. Alex joined him, not really listening to Dean's responses anymore.

"I almost smoked that old gal, I swear. It's not funny." Dean replied to the, sick of their collective laughter at his expense. You'd think it'd die down after a while, but apparently that wasn't happening.

"Oh, man, you should've seen your face, Dean." Sam cried again. He pulled the room's keys out of his pocket and began to unlock the door.

"Yeah, well, laugh it up, guys. We're back to square one." Dean shook his head. As he did so, he noticed the young boy, the one that had reminded him of himself sitting outside the motel reception. Strangely, he was sitting still, not even fidgeting, and he was slumped in his seat, as though something had beaten him. "Hang on." Caught by Dean's tone, Alex and Sam stopped laughing and followed his gaze to the young boy. When Dean started walking towards him, they weren't far behind.

As they reached him, they could tell the young blonde was crying. His face wasn't littered with tears but he had that look about him, one that said that the world had crashed around his head. "Hey, what's wrong?" Dean asked once he'd crouched to the boy's level. He looked over at them, and his face held a deep sadness that didn't belong on one so young.

"My brother's sick."

"The little guy?" Dean asked. He knew how the boy felt. Sam had been sick enough times, and he'd always stayed by his side, looking after him.

"Pneumonia. He's in the hospital. It's my fault." That feeling Dean knew as well. But, he'd learnt not to beat himself up about it too much. Then Sam would worry and it'd be his fault all over again.

"Oh, come on, how?" he wanted to show the boy that this wasn't his slip, that he couldn't blame himself for every little thing that happened.

"I should've made sure the window was latched. He wouldn't have gotten pneumonia if the window was latched." Dean listened to the young boy and glanced at Sam as he spoke. Yes, he knew what it was like to think something like that was his mistake. But there was always a difference from when it was his slip-up and when he just felt like it was.

"Listen to me. I can promise you that this is not your fault, okay?" Dean told the young boy, knowing it probably wouldn't help, but trying it anyway. He didn't want the boy blaming himself for something he couldn't prevent.

"It's my job to look after him." Dean nodded, understanding the boy's pain and wanting to do something to help. He also understood that nothing but his brother getting better would make a difference to him. Sam watched Dean, knowing how protective he was. Alex observed from behind, noticing the similarities between Dean and the boy. She looked up as she heard the door open and the boy's mother walked out. She was holding a bear, pillow and blanket, and was obviously in a rush, worried about her youngest.

"Michael." She walked to her car and threw in the items. They followed the boy, Michael, to his mum as she rushed to get to her son. "I want you to turn on the 'No Vacancy' sign while I'm gone. I've got Denise covering room service, so don't bother with any of the rooms." She told him, her voice shaking as she suppressed her tears.

"I'm going with you." Michael demanded, his guilt showing all too plainly to everyone but his mother.

"Not now, Michael."

"But I gotta see Asher!" when his mother ignored him, Dean stepped forward, trying to help the mother and her son cope. It was one of the only things he could do right now, and he wanted to help them, even if it wasn't much.

"Hey, Michael. Hey, I know how you feel, okay? I'm a big brother, too. But you gotta go easy on your mum right now, okay?" Michael nodded, somehow seeming to recognize someone else that had been through the same thing he was. Unknown to him, though, those things hadn't been sickness, it had been broken bones and skin. As Michael's mother closed her car door, her purse fell out of her grasp.

"Dammit!" she cried. Alex hurried forward and picked it up, knowing that a girl's personals were in there, not that she'd had one herself. She just put everything into her pockets or a backpack.

"Here." Alex handed the purse back to its owner, not looking at the contents.

"Thanks."

"Hey, listen, you're in no condition to drive. Why don't you let me give you a lift to the hospital, huh?" Dean asked as the purse exchanged hands. He knew that in her distracted condition, it would be dangerous for anyone on the road near her.

"No, I couldn't possibly-" she began, but Dean, knowing when to press people interrupted.

"No, it's no trouble. I insist." He held out his hand, expectantly, and after a moment's thought, she handed the keys to the kind stranger. Something about him made him seem trustworthy.

"Thanks." She moved to her son and leaned down, kissing his forehead. Michael was still sad and angry about not being able to go and guilty it had happened in the first place. "Be good." His mother got into the car and Dean closed the door behind her, glad he could help someone, even though it wasn't the kid. He leaned in, closer to Sam and Alex, not wanting the family to over hear him.

"We're gonna kill this thing. I want it dead, you hear me?" Dean growled. Neither Sam nor Alex took his tone to heart. They both knew he was just feeling for the family, trying to get them to live as happy a life as possible. As Dean pulled the woman's car out, Alex turned to Sam.

"So, where do we go now?" she asked. Sam just looked at her, rasing his brow. Alex sighed. "Oh, god, please no." never-the-less, Alex followed Sam to the Impala, and watched as they pulled up outside _A.W. Stowe Public Library._ She groaned inwardly as the sight. After the first hunt, libraries had taken a new meaning to her. It meant a few long hours of bloody research, reading and looking over things.

After twenty minutes, she'd found a few books that looked promising, and began to read, not quite sure what exactly they were trying to find. After an hour, Sam made sure she was looking at the right things and went to the computer, like normal. After another half hour of looking for more information on Shtrigas, Alex began to try hunt it back from where Dean had mentioned it. After a few tries, Alex realised that it popped up some place every fifteen to twenty years. And it stayed there for a few months.

She didn't see the point of it, but she searched for the Shtriga right back until there was no more records. After that, she left it to Sam, and rested her head on the book, swinging her necklace back and forth in front of her face, like she was trying to hypnotize herself. Sam wasn't sure if the pendent was following her eyes or her eyes following the pendent.

Sam picked his phone up after a few hours and nudged her arm to get her attention. She looked up, and nodded, sliding the book she'd written her findings down in across the table.

"_Hey."_ Dean picked up on the other line. He'd stayed with the boy and his mum though all this, wanting to help where he could.

"Hey. How's the kid?" Sam asked quietly. He didn't especially want everyone in here to listen in to his conversation. Alex was listening to the one side of the conversation she could hear, trying to fill in the blanks.

"_He's not good. Where you at?"_

"At the library, tryin' to find out as much as we can about this Shtriga." Sam answered, trying not to laugh at the waves of hate he could feel pouring off Alex at the mention of the building's name.

"_Yeah? What do you got?"_

"Well, bad news. I," Sam froze as he remembered what had happened last time he'd taken all the credit for something Alex had helped with. She hadn't put the itching powder in his boxers, but she hadn't mentioned anything about them either. _"We_ started with Fort Douglas, around the time you said Dad was there."

"_And?"_

"Same deal. Before that, there was Ogdenville. Before that, North Haverbrook and Brockway. Every fifteen to twenty years, it hits a new town. Dean, this thing is just gettin' started in Fitchburg. In all these other places, it goes on for months—dozens of kids, before the Shtriga finally moves on. Kids just languish in comas, and then they die."

"_How far back does this thing go?" _Dean was holding back tears now. He couldn't believe the destruction this thing left in its wake.

"I don't know. The earliest mention I could find was this place called Black River Falls back in the 1890s. Talk about a horror show." Sam moved back though the issue of _The Fitchburg Chronicle_ he'd been reading as he talked. The front page came up and Sam froze on it. "Whoa."

"_Sam?"_ Alex looked over at Sam's muted exclamation. He tapped the screen with the picture on it before pointing out the date. Alex got out of her chair and walked out of the library, probably so she could scream a few profanities, and maybe take her anger out on something other than a book or human.

"Hold on. I'm lookin' at a photograph right now of a bunch of doctors standing around a kid's bed. One of the doctors is Hydecker."

"_And?"_

"And this picture was taken in 1893."

"_You sure?" _the sound of a single, far off gunshot reached Sam's ears.

"Judging by Alex's reaction? Yeah. Yeah, absolutely." Not able to stay on the phone, Dean snapped it shut before turning back to the family. Doctor Hydecker was there as well, hand on Asher's head as he talked to the boy's mother. He got up and walked over to Michael's mum, trying to comfort her.

"Don't worry. Your son's in good hands. I'm gonna take care of him." He told her before walking over to Dean. "So, what's the CDC come up with so far?"

"Well, we're still workin' on a few theories. You'll know something as soon as we do." As Dean didn't have a gun or knife on him, it took all he had not to start using the 'Doctor' as a punching bag.

"Well, nothing's more important to me than these kids." The thing that pissed Dean off even more was that he still looked and sounded sincere. In a way, though, he was telling the truth. The most important thing to a Shtriga is feeding time.

"Mm."

"Just let me know if I can help." the Doctor walked away, completely at ease.

"I'll do that."

* * *

Once Dean hung up, Sam collected the few things he'd brought with him and went to look for Alex. It wasn't too hard. He walked around the back of the library, and found her walking up the street. He waited for her to reach him before walking back to the car. Sam needed to get Dean before he did something stupid, like Alex just did. At least she'd had enough sense to try get away from people.

He made Alex stay in the car, knowing her hidden belt would be packed. She had a silver knife on it, a proper one -courtesy of Dean-, nun-chucks and a gun. Her anger was still in full throttle as well, so he wasn't entirely sure if she wouldn't strike out at someone innocent.

Once he'd dragged both Dean and Alex back to their room, he took the belt off the livid girl. She was still dangerous, sure, but now she wouldn't be able to take out the wall.

"A friggin' Doctor!" Alex hissed. She was seething. Sam and Dean had learnt not to let their anger rule them, as they made stupid decisions when they were under it. Like Alex was doing now.

"We should have thought of this before. A doctor's a perfect disguise. You're trusted, you can control the whole thing." Sam summarised what they were all thinking. Well, the small part of them that was thinking. He sent Alex a feeling of calm, hard as it was to dredge up out of himself. She held onto it, drawing strength from the tiny comfort.

"Huh. That son of a bitch." Dean growled, getting up from his chair and pulling his jacket off.

"I thought you'd have drawn on him." Alex said from her place on the floor. She was glaring at the wall, and Sam was half surprised it didn't burst into flames from the intensity of her stare.

"Yeah, well, first of all, I'm not gonna open fire in a freakin' paediatrics ward." Dean growled. Alex was calming, slowly: Dean talking like this was helping. Sam pushed Dean on, trying to get Alex's emotions back to a safer level. The image of her sister pinned on the wall by Alex's gaze was stuck in Sam's mind.

"Good call."

"Second, it wouldn't have done any good because the bastard's bullet proof unless he's chowin' down on somethin'. And third, I wasn't packin', which is probably a really good thing 'cause I probably would've just burned a clip in him off of principle alone." As he spoke, Dean paced around the small room.

"Gettin' wise in your old age, Dean." Sam complemented, not really sure what Dean would have done if he did have his gun on him.

"Damn right. So now I know how we're gonna get it."

"The hell are you talkin' 'bout?" Alex asked from her spot on the floor. She'd almost completely calmed down by now, and Sam decided he didn't have to watch out for any uncontrolled telekinesis.

"This Shtriga—it works through siblings, right?" Alex wasn't sure she liked the way this was going. Dean seemed almost excited about this.

"Right." Sam agreed. Sam didn't like it anymore than Alex did. He was used to Dean coming up with all kinds of crazy plans, but he wasn't sure that this one was going to be any good.

"Well, last night…" Dean trailed off, letting Sam and Alex finish the sentence.

"It took Asher." Alex finished. She saw where he was going, and she didn't like it, not at all.

"So I'm thinkin' tonight, it's probably gonna come after Michael." Dean confirmed her suspicions. She really didn't like the idea, but maybe, just maybe, it was one they should go with. She wasn't sure which side to take, though.

"Then, we gotta get him outta here." Sam voiced her first instinct. She really didn't like the idea of putting a kid in the line of fire. Alex decided to let the argument unfold, and take the side that she thought was the better one after.

"No. No, that'd blow the whole deal." Dean didn't seem to see anything wrong with the idea.

"What?" Sam didn't believe it. He couldn't see the other side just yet. Alex remembered Dean saying something about the only way to kill it was to shoot it when it was feeding. Still, she wasn't able to pick a side, her maternal instincts screaming at her to take the kid out of the firing line.

"Yeah."

"Then you wanna use the kid as bait?" Dean ducked his head in agreement. Alex noticed he didn't seem too happy about it and realised that he'd come to terms with the idea. He knew it was dangerous, but it may have been their only chance. "Are you nuts? No! Forget it, that's out of the question."

"It's not out of the question, Sam, it's the only way. If this thing disappears, it could be years before we get another chance." That was when Alex made her mind up. She agreed with Dean. While her maternal instincts told her it was wrong, common sense told her that even if the kid died, he would have saved a lot of others.

"Michael's a kid. And I'm not gonna dangle him in front of that thing like a worm on a hook." Alex was about to jump in and defend Dean when he slipped up.

"Dad did not send me here to walk away." Dean yelled.

"Send _you_ here? He didn't send you here, he sent _us_ here." Alex once again stopped herself from getting in the middle of the fight. If anyone could get Dean to crack out of his shell, it was Sam.

"This isn't about you, Sam!" Dean turned away from Sam, and Alex moved into a more inconspicuous position, so it seemed like he was just talking to Sam. She knew it would be hard enough for him to confess to Sam, let alone to Sam and her. "All right, I'm the one that screwed up. It's my fault. There's no tellin' how many kids have gotten hurt because of me."

"What are you saying, Dean? How is it your fault?" Dean froze as he realised he'd said too much, knowing he'd now have to explain it to Sam. He really didn't like the idea. Sam sighed before going on, realising Dean wasn't going to say anything for a while. "Dean, you've been hiding something from the get-go. Since when does Dad bail on a hunt? Since when does he let something get away?" Dean sat down, and looked at his hands, ashamed of what had happened. "Now, talk to me, man. Tell me what's goin' on."

"Fort Douglas, Wisconsin." The room was silent as Dean began to tell his tale. Alex and Sam shared a look, and Alex moved a bit, knowing that now Dean was telling them, it wouldn't make a difference if she put a chicken costume on with a grass skirt and break danced to Britney Spears. All that would achieve would be to embarrass her.

"It was the third night in this crap room, and I was climbin' the walls, man. I needed to get some air." Dean was once again lost to his memories. He was vaguely aware that he was still talking, but he was mostly reliving the night. He remembered the over powering need to just get out, the near claustrophobia that had driven him.

_He'd scanned the channels for something good, anything to take his mind off where he was. There was nothing. He couldn't sleep, not full of energy the way he was. So he slipped out of the room, pausing to check on Sam and lock the door._

_He headed to the reception offiice where he'd seen an arcade game. It would be perfect, he thought. He was on it for a while, though he wasn't sure how much time had passed. The game kept him busy, and he was thankful that it chased away most of the energy that had built up._

"_Kid." Dean turned to look at the keeper, not sure how long he'd been standing there. It was confusing; he'd lost all sense of time as he played. "We're closin' up."_

_He walked back to the room, unlocking the door. As he turned, he immediately knew something was wrong. There was a light from the room where he'd last seen Sam. The door was slightly ajar, and he'd left it wide open when he left. He silently walked over and pushed the door out of the way. Sam was there, but so was something else._

_It had Sam lying on the bed, and it was crouched over him, covered in a brown cloak. He knew it was doing something to his little brother- his responsibility- by the white light that filled its mouth. He quietly grabbed the rifle that his dad had left for situations like this and pulled it up to aim it at the thing's head. He cocked the gun, and the noise made the thing aware of him. It lifted its head and growled at Dean._

_The door slamming made Dean aware of someone else in the room. He didn't know who it was, but he watched the other thing, the more prominent threat to Sam._

"_Get out of the way!" Dean recognised the voice as his dad's and moved quickly to one side of the door. John shot at the thing, and it reacted to the hits, but it didn't die. It raced out of the room, crashing through the window. Once it had disappeared from sight, and the gun was empty of bullets, he rushed over to his youngest son. _

"_Sammy. Sammy. Sammy! Are you okay?" he quickly pulled Sam into a sitting position on his arm. Sam woke, not understanding why there was such a fuss._

"_Dad, what's goin' on?" Sam asked, still sleepy, having just woken to the sound of his dad's voice._

"_You all right?" John hugged Sam close, his voce soft and worried. Dean, alerted by the absence of gunfire, moved into the room, carefully, wanting to see for himself that Sam was ok. "What happened?" John's voice went immediately from caring to his normal tone, demanding and slightly cold._

"_I-I just went out." Dean wanted his dad to understand. But, apparently that was too much to ask for._

"_What?" John asked, sharp and horrified._

"_J-just for a second." Dean ducked his head in shame, knowing that there was really no excuse. "I'm sorry."_

"_I told you not to leave this room. I told you not to let him out of your sight!" John held Sam close, crying as Dean watched on. He didn't know what was worse: knowing he'd almost gotten his little brother killed or the way his father looked at him. Guilt, shame and pain lanced through his chest as he watched his father check Sam for any kind of harm, knowing it was entirely his fault._

"Dad just grabbed us and booked—dropped us off at Pastor Jim's about three hours away. By the time he got back to Fort Douglas, the Shtriga disappeared. It was just gone. It never resurfaced until now." Dean noticed that while he'd been talking, Sam had sat next to him, and Alex was standing on his other side. Neither of them spoke and Dean continued on. "Dad never spoke about it again. I didn't ask. But he, uh—he looked at me different, you know—which was worse. Not that I blame him. He gave me an order, and I didn't listen. I almost got you killed."

"You were just a kid." Sam tried to comfort Dean, knowing how hard it would have been for him. Their dad was practically his idol, and that he'd placed that weight on a nine or ten year old said much about why Dean followed orders to the letter.

"Don't—don't. Dad knew this was unfinished business for me. And he sent me here to finish it." Alex took what she'd just learnt about the boys and their dad to heart. She hadn't even met the guy, and she really didn't like him. It probably wasn't fair, but she didn't care. It didn't matter who you were, you didn't treat your kids like that. Placing that kind of weight on a child wasn't right. They were all silent for a second.

"But using Michael? I don't know, Dean. I mean, how about one of us hides under the cover, you know, we'll be the bait?" Sam suggested. Alex saw he was coming around to the idea, understanding that this could be their one chance. Alex didn't like the idea anymore then he did, and she wasn't sure if that once could work.

"No, that won't work. It's gotta get close enough to feed. It'll see us. Believe me, I don't like it. But it's gotta be the kid." Dean stood up and walked off, partly to hide his tears, partly to go talk to Michael.

Sam and Alex looked at each other, not sure what to think. Alex shrugged her shoulders and got up to follow Dean, Sam a few steps behind her. She caught Dean easily, and stayed by his side as they neared the motel reception. Sam joined them when they reached the doors. As expected, Michael wasn't out when they entered.

"Michael!" Alex called for the young boy. None of them liked the idea, but she knew it was their only option. She also knew that this would be hell, trying to tell the boy about something that was supposedly mythical.

Michael appeared a few seconds later, his eyes red from crying. Alex turned to the brothers, and Sam took it to mean 'take it away, boys.' He took a deep breath, not knowing if the boy would attack them, or call the police.

"A witch attacked your brother last night." Sam said. With out a moment's hesitation, Michael had the phone in his hands and was looking at them determinedly.

"You're crazy! Just go away, or I'm calling the cops." He yelled at them. Alex threw her hands in the air and went to walk out side. Dean caught her arm as he started speaking.

"Hang on a second. Just listen to me. You have to believe me, okay? This thing came through your window, and it attacked your brother. Now, I've seen it. I know what it looks like. 'Cause it attacked my brother once, too." Alex turned around when she heard the phone being put down. After a long pause, Michael spoke again.

"This thing—is it, like," he stopped for a moment, as though searching for the right word. "It has this long, black robe?"

"You saw it last night, didn't you?" Dean asked, remembering the one time he'd seen it.

"I thought I was havin' a nightmare." Michael confessed, half pleading for them to understand. Alex knew there was no need. A few weeks ago, and she'd have thought the same thing. Now, she was killing things that weren't even supposed to be real.

"I'd give anything not to tell you this, but sometimes, nightmares are real." Dean sounded like, for the second time that night, he was suppressing tears. Alex didn't blame him, though. He'd been through hell, and he didn't want to press it on anyone lightly.

"So, why_ are_ you telling me?"

"Because we need your help." Alex told him. Michael's gaze didn't even flicker away from Dean, so she left the whole thing up to him, letting him explain.

"_My_ help?"

"We can kill it. Me, him and her." Dean nodded to Alex and Sam as he mentioned them. "It's what we do. But we can't do it without you."

"What? No!" Alex wanted to walk away then. He'd given them his answer. But, once again, Dean held her back.

"Michael, listen to me. This thing hurt Asher, and it's gonna keep hurting kids unless we stop it, you understand me?" Michael didn't say anything. Sam and Alex had to physically drag Dean outside before he would go back to their room.

"Well, that went crappy." Dean exclaimed as soon as Alex had closed the door. "Now what?"

"What'd you expect was gonna happen?" Alex asked him as she walked in. She pulled off her jacket as Sam spoke, backing her up.

"You can't ask an adult to do something like that, much less a kid." Just as Sam had finished talking, a knock on the door sounded throughout the room. Dean walked over to get it, Alex and Sam behind him. Outside, his blond hair ruffled, Michael stood.

"If you kill it, will Asher get better?" he asked. Alex was surprised at the question and the fact that it was so straightforward. Although, she wasn't sure why she expected anything less. The boy was so much like Dean, it was scary.

"Honestly, we don't know." Dean answered the young boy. Although surprised, Alex couldn't see any point in lying to him. It wasn't like giving someone a get well card. Michael would be risking his life: it would be better for him to know what he was doing it for.

"You said you're a big brother?"

"Yeah."

"You'd take care of your little brother? You'd do anything for him?" Michael was serious when he asked that. To Alex, it was obvious he was trying to find something in common with Dean, something that told him Dean was telling the truth. That something just happened to be their relationship with their little brothers. She felt jealous of Sam in that moment. She and her sisters had been close, but never that close. They'd been more like best friends. There was no one she was that close to, never had been.

"Yeah, I would." Dean meant those words, that much was blatantly obvious. Even the blind would be able to see that. Obviously Michael saw it as well.

"Me, too. I'll help."Michael nodded, looking over at Sam. Dean fished in his pockets and pulled out the keys, throwing them to Alex. It was funny how much that meant to her, the fact the Dean trusted her enough to give her the keys. It was almost like he'd stamped his seal of approval on her forehead. She knew how much that car meant to him.

Somehow knowing what they needed, Alex pulled up the fake floor in the boot and pulled out the camera and a few cords. Sam had followed Dean to the reception that doubled as Michael's house, helping to set it up for their visitor. She handed Dean the camera, hearing the unspoken agreement that until the attack, Dean was the only one to go into Michael's room.

Dean set the camera on one of the shelves in Michael's room, making sure that it was placed properly. Sam looked at the screen on the computer, watching as he tried to make Michael as safe as he could.

"Now, this camera has night vision on it, so we'll be able to see as clear as day." Dean tried to reassure the young boy. "Are we good?" Dean called to Sam. Alex came to stand behind Sam as he looked at the screen, seeing the room through the camera.

"Make sure we can see that window." She told Sam. He looked at the live feed they were getting, noticing the window was barely showing.

"Hair to the right." Sam called back. He watched as Dean slowly moved the camera, waiting till it showed all that they needed. "There, there."

"What do I do?" Michael asked from his place in his bed. Dean turned to him, and, once again, saw a slightly brighter reflection of himself.

"You just stay under the covers." Dean answered. He walked over and sat on Michael's bed, much in the way a parent might.

"And if it shows up?" that was what they were hoping for, and Michael wasn't an exception to that.

"Well, we'll be right in the next room. We're gonna come in with guns. So, as soon as we do, you roll off this bed and you crawl under it." Dean didn't order him to do it, instead, like a teacher, he just said the instructions.

"What if you shoot me?"

"We won't shoot you. We're good shots. We're not gonna fire until you're clear, okay?" Michael nodded a bit reluctantly. "Have you heard a gunshot before?" Dean very much doubted that he had. It wasn't exactly normal for kids to be around guns. His own upbringing wasn't much in the way of 'normal'.

"Like, in the movies?" Michael nodded, and Dean took it to mean he'd heard gunshots in a show or something similar.

"It's gonna be a lot louder than in the movies. So, I want you to stay under the bed, cover your ears, and do not come out until we say so, you understand?" once again, Michael's nod was reluctant. Dean picked up on it, and gave him one more chance to back out. This wasn't something every kid had the guts to do. "Michael, you sure you wanna do this? You don't have to, it's okay. I won't be mad."

"No, I'm okay. Just don't shoot me."

"I'm not gonna let anything happen to you. I promise." Dean got up, off the bed and turned the light off as he left the room. "'Night Michael." He said as he closed the door. He thought he heard a goodnight in return, but he couldn't be sure.

The night dragged on as they waited for the Shtriga to appear. Fortunately for them all, Alex had remembered to get them all coffee earlier in the night. They sipped at their second cup as they watched and waited for some kind of movement from the feed on the computer.

"What's the time?" Alex asked. The dark sky did nothing to give her any ideas, but her body protested that it was way past midnight. Sam checked his watch and looked back at Alex.

"Three. You sure these iron rounds are gonna work?" Sam asked Dean.

"Consecrated iron rounds. And, yeah, it's what Dad used last time." Dean didn't take his eyes off the computer screen. It was hard to tell what he was feeling, mind, that might have had something to do with the late hour.

"Hey, Dean, I'm sorry." Dean's eyes flickered to Sam, his confusion evident on his face. It wasn't like Sam to randomly say things, and Dean knew there was something behind this.

"For what?"

"Well, you know… I've really given you a lot of crap for always followin' Dad's orders. But I know why you do it."

"Oh, God, kill me now." Dean said, staying with his rule of 'no chick-flick moments. Sam smiled happy that he'd at least heard his side. He turned back to the feed, watching the window. The shadows from the trees shifted on it, making weird patterns fall across the glass "Wait, look."

Sam and Alex noticed the movement as Dean pointed it out to them. A hand with long fingers crept across the window, opening it with touching anything. Sam and Dean quietly picked up their guns, and Alex grabbed hers from the holster on her belt. The Shtriga stood inside the room for a moment before walking over to the young boy.

"Now?" Alex asked, knowing even as she said it that if it were time, one of the boys would have said so.

"Not yet." Dean replied instantly. The feed from the camera blurred for a second, reacting to the supernatural aura. As the malevolence began to feed, taking Michael's _spiritus vitae, _Dean kicked the door open, and called the thing's attention upon himself, away from the kid.

"Hey!" as it turned, it released Michael, something Alex was quick to notice.

"Michael, under the bed!" she yelled at the boy. He quickly complied, crawling under it as Dean had told him to do before hand. The hunters were quick to get their shots off, all of them hitting their mark. After a few shots, the malicious thing crumpled to the floor in a heap of black material.

"Mike, you all right?" Dean asked the brother. He didn't take his eyes off the thing on the floor, but Alex crouched to check on the boy.

"Yeah." Michael answered, giving the trio some relief.

"Jus' sit tight." Dean told him as he rounded the bed. Once he'd convinced himself that the thing was actually well and truly dead, he lowered the gun, Sam and Alex following his example. The Shtriga, however, had other plans. It was up and at Dean's throat in a second, throwing him into a cupboard in the next.

"Dean!" Alex and Sam cried at the same time. Moving too fast for either of them to pick up, the Shtriga was across the room and throwing Alex across the bed, into the space it had occupied only moments before. Moving quickly, it threw Sam to the ground, pinning him and separating him from his gun. Forcing Sam's mouth open, it began to steal his life force.

"Hey!" Dean called out to the thing in the cloak, and it lifted its head to look at him. With a perfect shot, Dean's bullet went straight through the middle of the brain. It fell, rolling of Sam as it did so, once again lying on the floor. "You okay, little brother?" Sam managed to give Dean the thumbs up, and Dean looked to where Alex still lied. She'd been knocked out when the thing had thrown her, but her breathing was steady, meaning she was alive at least.

Sam got to his feet as Dean Shot the thing three more times. The body under the cloak crumbled to dust, disappearing entirely. The only thing that remind as a reminder of the creature's existence was the cloak.

"It's okay, Michael, you can come on out." Dean remembered the boy who'd helped them. Michael crawled out of his hiding spot and looked at the proof of the thing's death. He smiled gratefully at Dean afraid of what had just happened. Dean smiled back, once again, completely understanding.

Between the boys, they managed to carry Alex body back to their room after helping clean up the mess the Shtriga had made in its death. Alex whimpered as they lied her down in her space she'd claimed as her own, and rested her head on a pillow. Sam got the first-aid kit and they checked her for injuries, finding nothing. Then, knowing the sleep was needed, they both fell on their respected beds, sleep claiming them.

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Strangely, Dean was the first up. He began packing their bags, Sam soon joining him. Alex woke slowly, quickly claiming the aspirin that had been left out for her. She added her sleeping stuff to the bags in the trunk, Sam and Dean beside her, making sure she didn't fall suddenly. She would probably sleep for a while in the next few days, and they knew it was a good idea to let her. Her system needed to get over the shock of being a hunter and needed to recuperate, fix her head and get her strength back.

"Hey, Joanna. How's Asher?" Alex asked, noticing the other woman. She walked over to the trio, eyes showing she was a bit worried about something.

"Have you seen Michael?" she asked. Before any of them could say anything, however, the boy in question came running out side.

"Mum, Mum!" he yelled, running over. Joanna picked him up and spun him, happy that he was alright.

"Hey!" she cried as she set him on his feet. Alex, Sam and Dean watched in silence, happy for the family. As Sam and Dean knew they could never have a normal one, seeing the fruits of their effort was good enough.

"How's Ash?" Michael seemed to have a single track mind when his brother was sick or hurt in anyway, even if it was just a cough.

"I've got some good news. Your brother's gonna be fine." Joanna told her son, running her hand through his hair.

"Really?"

"Yeah, really. No one can explain it. It's a miracle. They're gonna keep him in overnight for observation, but after that, he's comin' home." Joanna turned to tell Sam and Dean the last part, knowing they'd helped her family get through their crisis.

"That's great." Dean told her.

"How are all the other kids doin'?" Sam was the only one not caught up in Joanna and Michael's moment to spare a thought for the others.

"Good. Real good. A bunch of them should be checkin' out in a few days. Dr. Travis says the ward's gonna be like a ghost town."

"Dr. Travis? What about Dr. Hydecker?" Sam asked, knowing the 'good Doctor' should never make an appearance in history again.

"Oh, he wasn't in today—must've been sick or something." Joanna replied. Alex nodded, knowing that was a good thing. She stopped quickly because it made her head pound.

"Yeah. Yeah, must have." Dean agreed.

"So, did anything happen while I was gone?" his mother turned to Michael, unknowing the boy's life had probably changed forever. In some ways good, others bad.

"No. Same old stuff." Michael lied, not looking at any of the hunters.

"Okay. You can go see Ash."

"Now?"

"Only if you want to." Michael turned to Dean, smiling, almost asking permission. Dean nodded to him, practically telling him to get to get his ass to his little brother. Michael raced off, leaving his mother with the hunters. "I better get going before he hotwires the car and drives himself." Joanna excused herself before she walked off.

"It's too bad." Sam remarked, looking after Joanna and Michael as they drove off.

"Oh, they'll be fine." Dean told him. Alex agreed, trusting Dean to know when something was dead even though he'd gotten her knocked out because of a mistake on that part.

"No, that's not what I meant. I meant Michael. He will always know there are things out there in the dark. He'll never be the same, you know?" Alex and Dean nodded, Alex remembering when Sam had old her about their lives. She known then that she'd never be able to go back. "Sometimes I wish that…" Sam trailed off, not sure how Dean would take it.

"What?" Dean asked, pausing at his door.

"I wish I could have that kind of innocence." Sam confessed.

"If it means anything," Dean stated after a minute's silence, "sometimes I wish you could, too." Dean got into the car, followed by Alex and Sam.

"So, does this mean the 'no chick flick moments' rule is dead?" Alex asked. She already knew the answer to that.

"Hell no." Dean growled.

"Jerk." Sam replied to the rule.

"Bitch." Alex knew the names they called each other, and jumped in before Dean could.

"Princess." Dean shot at Alex when she stole his word. As one, the hunters grinned before Dean pulled the Impala out of the parking spot.

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A/N: Hey. The next one may not be up for a while, so just bare with me, kay? I've got a lot of crap on my plate and a two week camping trip. I'd love to come back and have a few more reviews. Anyway, happy hunting!

_-Jasper's Imaginary Friend_


	13. Dead Man's Blood

_A/N: For those who are wondering, yes, my camp was GREAT! I central Australia is AWESOME! I was the only girl in my group to get to the top of Mount Sonda! And some idiots decided to see who could last the longest in _'Ellery Creek Big Hole'._ The water was freezing and they became a legend while we were there. We had people walking up to us, asking who the five people where that had stayed in for 32 minutes: we had to leave after that time, otherwise they would have stayed in for much longer.  
For anyone planning to go to central Australia, I give you the thumbs up. If you are planning on going on any walks or hikes, I would recommend going between May and September as that's when it's the coolest (tempeture wise)._

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LucyMariWinchester:

Thank you _so_ much for reading! I'm glad you like Alex. I like her too, and I'm trying to update as quickly as I can.

poolboyjackson: Once again, I thank you for reading! It's great to know I have at least a few people reading! As far as I know, you're the only one who's picked up on the lines, so I would like to say you know your Supernatural very well. my Beta's got me fixing that up, and she'll begin to become more of a pronounced figure as this goes on (I hope). I have a few more ideas for stories, but I'm trying to keep my focus on this one, but thanks for the tip!

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Disclaimer:

I don't own _Supernatural _nor do I own Sam or Dean. I am, however, addicted to their show.

**Beta:** Wingedteen

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**Defiance**

Reunion. After an aging spook hunter falls prey to the vampires he thought he had long ago destroyed, John Winchester joins his sons (meeting Alex) to battle the bloodsuckers- and retrieve an unearthly gun they possess.

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Dead Man's Blood

_Manning, Colorado. _

Alex sighed and threw the paper down on the table in frustration. She'd combed the damn thing for any sign of paranormal activity for the past hour, and the closest thing she'd found was someone teaching deaf puppies obedience. Not exactly a sign of the boogie man. Sam and Dean, after their last case, had decided that she had enough experience to search for things without their help. She was feeling restless, sitting in the little shop, and was itching to do _something, anything_, rather the stay here for much longer, looking for a hunt.

"All, right, either of you got anything? I sure as hell don't." she asked, itching to tear the paper up now that she'd read it. But that wasn't saying much, considering she'd been stopping herself from destroying it before she'd even gotten to page ten. After a few weeks on the job, Alex knew she'd rather be kicking whatever supernatural butt they were after at the time, but she valued the information they got from research. That didn't mean that if she had half a chance, she wouldn't leave it all up to Sam, though.

"Not a decent lead in all of Nebraska. What do you got?" Dean folded his paper and placed it onto the table, showing much more restraint then Alex had. They both turned to Sam, who had been searching on his laptop, and may have had the better time of them all, knowing what to look for.

"Well, I've been scanning Wyoming, Colorado, South Dakota. Here, a woman in Lowa fell ten thousand feet from an airplane and survived." Sam read from one of the pages he'd found. Alex and Dean shared a look at the story, trying not to make Sam feel like a fool.

"Doesn't sound like our kind of gig." Alex responded. Sam and Dean had started to value her input, as, after hunting for the Striga, she generally knew what was up.

"Sounds more 'That's Incredible' than, 'Twilight Zone'." Dean agreed, adding in his usual flare.

"Yeah." Sam took their point turning back to his screen.

"Hey, you know, we could, uh—we could just keep it in the east. New York, upstate. We could stop by and see Sarah again, huh? She's a cool chick, man—smokin'." Dean whistled, reminding them of what he thought of the girl. "You two seemed pretty friendly. What do you say?" Sarah had been on a previous hunt, her father being an art dealer who sold a painting that was killing people. Obviously, she hadn't known at the time, but by the time they'd left, she'd been clued into the darker side of the world. She and Sam had hit it off, both having similar experiences in different circumstances. Alex and Dean had, at one point, both told Sam to marry her at the same time.

Laughing at the idea, Sam nodded. "Yeah, maybe, someday. But in the meantime, we've got a lot of work to do, Dean, and you know that." Dean and Alex shared a look, both rolling their eyes at Sam a moment later.

"Fine then, Romeo, what else you find?" Alex asked, knowing that if she'd had anything to do with Dean's earlier comment, Sam would have included her.

"Uh, Manning, Colorado—a local man by the name of Daniel Elkins was found mauled in his home." Once again, Sam read off the computer. Alex took a peek at the screen, seeing five open windows on his laptop.

"Elkins? I know that name." Dean turned to Alex, noticing that she didn't have a look of recognition on her face as well. "Surprised you don't Alex. You're the one who's been pokin' 'round in dad's journal the most."

Alex shrugged at the eldest brother. She'd been copying out things on the creatures he'd written about in his book, skipping the newspaper articles and the diary-like parts. Dean pulled out the journal and leafed though it, looking for something only he remembered.

"It sounds like the police don't know what to think. At first, they said it was some sort of bear attack, and now, they found signs of robbery." Sam summarised the article he'd been reading, knowing that Dean was listening, and Alex was probably getting impatient. She'd practiced her powers more than she normally had in their last hunt, and she now had a firm grip on how to use them.

"Mm-hmm." Dean made sure that Sam knew he'd been listening to the babble of information. After a few pages, he came across what he'd been looking for. He turned the journal around so Alex and Sam could see it, pointing out what he'd found. "Here. Check it out."

Alex leaned forward to see what Dean was showing them. At the top of the page, above _T. Eradferd_ and _K. Jonson_ was a _D. Elkins_. His number followed, the 970 555 0150 somehow standing out on the paper.

"Same guy?" Alex asked, staring at the page. She knew Sam and Dean's dad had a lot of connections, and he'd given them more than a little help in their hunts, so she wasn't sure who the hell this guy was or how he would be helpful.

"It's a Colorado area code." They exchanged glances, before rushing out of the diner they'd been in, practically diving into the Impala in their haste to get on the road.

The house, when they pulled up, was covered in snow, and dark, slightly run down. Alex was the first to the door, her new hunting instincts getting her hand to fall to the gun on her hidden belt. She opened it, seeing nothing and turned in time to catch a torch Sam had thrown her way.

Moving in sync with each other, to the learnt rhythm that they'd formed in their few hunts together, Dean went in first, Alex following not far behind. She went her own way once they were inside, treading quietly, though there seemed to be no reason to do so. Sam took a look around the rest of the house while Dean poked around in what appeared to be Elkins' office. He picked up a leather bound book, one that could have been from a matching set of his dad's. He opened it, flipping through, noticing the news clippings that were stuck in.

"Hey, there's salt over here—right inside the door." Sam called out. Alex froze at the door to one of the rooms, the place this Elkins guy was most likely killed. Papers were strewn across the floor, adding to the mess of everything else that had been in the room. The only thing that hadn't been turned to rubble was a plain desk, and a few choice things on top of it. Glass scattered the room and something that looked like a bookshelf had fallen on one of the walls.

"You mean, like, protection-against-demons salt, or, uh, 'Oops, I spilled the popcorn' salt?" Dean asked, still flipping through the news paper clippings that filled the book.

"It's clearly a ring. You think this guy, Elkins, was a player?" Sam looked up from his crouched position on the floor, where he'd been inspecting the ring of protection.

"Definitely." Dean answered, staring at Elkin's journal. He'd stopped to read one of the notes scribbled inside, noticing the paranormal take on things.

"That looks a hell of a lot like Dad's." Sam voiced Dean's thoughts as he came up behind him, looking at the clippings. He was too far away to make out what Dean saw, so he didn't notice what Dean was staring at.

"Yeah, except this dates back to the sixties." Dean answered, staring at the date on the page. Alex rolled her eyes at the boy's stupidity. The way they were talking, you'd have thought they were the only hunters in the world.

"Well, when you both stop reminiscing about the _good ol' times_ with your dad, you might want to get your asses over here." She called. Sam and Dean shared a look, knowing Alex didn't exactly have a high opinion of their father. But she was a hunter on the job, and a friend off of it.

They found her looking around them at the destroyed room. Alex hadn't taken a step in, not sure if she would destroy anything the boys might see. She was getting good at what they did, but she was no where near their level yet. The brothers looked around at what was left of the room, Sam noting the glass. There weren't any windows on the walls, so he looked up, trying to find where it had come from. Two windows had shattered inwards; the broken frames a testimony to that.

"Whatever attacked him, it looks like there was more than one." Alex and Dean followed his torch light, seeing the windows they'd missed.

"Looks like he put up a hell of a fight, too." Dean added, eyeing the room. They stepped into the mess that littered the floor, every scrap of flooring they found a rare treasure. Dean went to the desk, while Alex went to the far side of the room, looking for any clue on what had attacked the man.

She turned around when Dean crouched, attuned to the brothers' movements as she was. He ran his fingers across the floor, the rubble hiding whatever it was he was looking at from her gaze.

"What'd you find?" she called over. Dean glanced up towards her, spinning to look at Sam as well. Sam was looking at Dean, just the way Alex was, wanting to know what had caught his attention.

"I don't know, just some scratches in the floor." Dean responded. He looked around, among the crap scattered around him, looking for a pencil and paper to make sure.

"Death throes, maybe?" Sam asked, thinking of the pain before death. In a severe state of agony, people do strange things just before they die. He may have just clawed at the floor, producing scratches in a useless attempt to get away from the pain.

"Yeah, maybe." Finally finding what he'd been looking for, Dean threw the paper over the top of the scratch marks and ran the pencil over the top of them, copying what ever was there. After a while, he pulled the paper off and looked at it carefully, reading what was there. "Or maybe a message." He handed the paper to Sam, Alex being too far away for him. She headed back to look at the paper. "Look familiar?" Dean asked.

"Three letters, six digits—the location and combination of a post office box. It's a mail drop." Sam summarised looking at the message in confusion, remembering their dad doing the same thing. Alex looked at it, not seeing anything but a bunch of random numbers and letters.

"That's just the way Dad does it." Dean agreed. Alex understood the reason the brothers seemed to be so incredulous. Still not seeing anything, she followed the boys out the door, grabbing the book that could have been mistaken for the one she'd just recently finished copying. She was used to looking for any extra information- after all, she didn't even know half the stuff they did. Dean noticed the book and rolled his eyes.

"Well, at least I'll have more information than you." She replied.

They slipped out of the Impala in front of a post office, Alex taking watch while the boys went to get whatever it was they were breaking in for. A few minutes later, they slipped back into the Impala, showing a letter to Alex. Initials stated the letter was addressed to a 'J.W.'

"J.W.—you think? John Winchester?" Sam asked. Alex shrugged. Honestly, she hadn't known the significance of the letters until Sam had spoken.

"I don't know. Should we open it?" a loud knock on Dean's window made them all jump and Alex's hand went to the hidden gun on her belt. As a look of recognition fell across Dean's face, Alex pulled her hand away, wanting to have the element of surprise should she need it. "Dad?" Dean asked, making the man smile. As he tuned to sit in the back with Alex, Sam sent her a feeling of calm at the same time as sharing a confused look with Dean.

"Dad, what are you doing here? Are you all right?"

"Yeah. I'm okay. Look, I read the news about Daniel. I got here as fast as I could. I saw you up at his place. Who's she?" John jerked his head in Alex's direction, and she rested her hand where her silver knife sat, still concealed. She ducked her head down and hid she glare behind her hair, fairly sure that the man across from her would see it as an act of defiance. In a way, it was, but she'd rather not have to attack this man, as he was obviously someone special to Sam and Dean.

"Why didn't you come in, Dad?" Sam asked, ignoring the question and thinking about how close their dad had been. It annoyed him to think that he didn't trust them enough to let them know he was there.

"You know why—because I had to make sure you weren't followed, by anyone, or anything. Nice job of covering your tracks, by the way." Dean nodded, gratefully, taking the compliment from their father.

"Yeah, well, we learnt from the best." Dean replied. John jerked his head at Alex before speaking again.

"And then you brought along baggage. Who is she?" Alex threw her arm out to punch John, but Sam, anticipating her reaction, grabbed her before her fist collided with his father's face.

"There's this thing called courtesy. Maybe you should look into it." Alex hissed at him. John turned in his seat to look at Alex, taking in her appearance, and seemed surprised by it. She was half hidden in the shadow of the car, eyes burning behind the darkness that hid them. Alex ignored the look, forgetting about it as soon as it disappeared from his face.

"Ok, what's your name?" Sam and Dean looked at each other in astonishment. No one had ever talked to their dad like that, and they were sure that she wasn't going to get away with it. Alex's eyes blazed with triumph, as she saw she'd won a small piece of this guy's respect.

"Alexandra Bashter." She replied, relaxing, but never moving her hand from the knife in her belt. Sam noticed it, but as he understood her reasoning, didn't call her out. If John told them to ditch her, there was no doubt in Sam's mind that Dean would do as he said without a second thought.

"Wait, so, you came all the way out here for this Elkins guy?" Sam asked, pulling to a safer subject, trying to keep Alex with them. She relaxed back into her seat, in a pose Sam knew. She looked like she could sleep like that, but her body was tense, ready to move if need be. John turned back to Sam and Dean in the front of the car, ignoring Alex, and Sam was sure she preferred it that way.

"Yeah. He was… he was a good man. He taught me a hell of a lot about hunting." John answered, sadly. Sam and Dean exchanged a look, trying to think of the guy.

"You never mentioned him to us." Sam realised finally. Dean and Alex looked at each other, Alex remembered a warning Dean had given her a while ago.

"_Look, Alex, if you're gonna stay here, I'll be the first to tell you. Sammy and dad don't get along so well. I might need your help, stopping them from ripping each other's throats out."_

Alex nodded at Dean, letting him know she remembered the cautionary words. She'd back him up if he needed it.

"We had, uh….we had kind of a falling out. I hadn't seen him in years." The eldest Winchester still sounded sad, but Alex couldn't see herself warming up to him. "I should look at that." John nodded to Dean, and he took the letter out of his pocket, handing it to his dad. John took the letter out of the envelope and Alex saw a lot of crap mentioning a gun. John read the beginning of the letter before realising what the rest of it said. "'If you're reading this, I'm already dead.' That son of a bitch."

"What is it?" Dean asked, surprised by his dad's outburst.

"He had it the whole time."

"Dad, what?" Sam asked not seeming to understand why his dad was acting like that. The one real line Alex had been able to read before John had moved it was: _it can kill anything._

"When you searched the place, did you see a gun? An antique—a Colt revolver, did you see it?" John seemed anxious about this. He put the paper into his pocket, hiding it from Alex's view. She was sure he hadn't noticed her peeking at it over his shoulder.

"Uh, there was an old case, but it was empty." Dean thought back to the trashed room they'd only just left. The case had room for extra bullets, more than the five that could fit into a colt revolver, but there had been no bullets scattered on the floor that he remembered. Alex watched passively, trying to understand what had just happened.

"They have it." John seemed horrified at the thought. Sam, Alex and Dean shared looks of confusion, and John didn't miss it.

"You mean, whatever killed Elkins?" Dean asked, trying to get information. He knew that, out of the three of them, he was the most likely to succeed. John obviously didn't trust Alex and he argued with Sam more than anyone else Dean and seen.

"We've got to pick up the trail." John declared as he got out of the car. Surprised, Alex watched as John got out o the car and walked to his truck, parked behind them.

"Wait." John walked back to the Dean's window. Dean rolled it down, and Sam asked the question Alex could see burning in Dean's eyes. "You want us to come with you?"

"If Elkins was tellin' the truth, we've got to find this gun." John answered. Alex nodded to herself, letting the pieces fall into place. From what she'd seen of the letter, she was fairly sure that she knew what was going on. Sam noticed her nod, and decided to talk to her about it later. He didn't want to alert his dad to Alex, didn't want John to think she was even more of a risk to keep around.

"The gun? Why?"

"Because it's important, that's why."

"Dad, we don't even know what these things _are_ yet." Sam tried to reason with their dad, but he seemed to already be on his own case.

"They were what Daniel Elkins killed best—vampires." Alex pulled the other journal out from under the seat in front of her and began flipping through it. Sure enough, one of the first things in there was vampires.

"Vampires? I thought there was no such thing." Dean exclaimed. Alex watched the interaction between the family with interest. This was a side of the brothers she'd never seen. They had someone telling them what to do, and, by the look of it, they were going to follow.

"You never even mentioned them, Dad." Sam agreed

"I thought they were extinct. I thought Elkins and others had wiped 'em out."

"Well, guess what. You were wrong." Alex growled from the back seat. John once again surprised Dean and Sam by ignoring her, and walking to his truck, calling out for them to follow. As Dean started the car and began to follow, Alex turned to Sam and Dean, incredulous. "So, wait, let me get this straight. It took Sam nineteen _years_ to rebel against him, and you still haven't, Dean?" Alex asked. Sam and Dean shared a glance.

"Alex, he's our dad. Other than Dean, he's my only family left." Sam defended. Alex shook her head.

"I don't care who he is, I'm gonna rip his head off if he continues to treat me like that!" Alex cried. At Dean and Sam's worried glance, Alex sighed. "Figure of speech, guys." Sam and Dean visibly relaxed, and Sam turned to Alex, remembering that she may have been able to see the letter.

"So, what's going on?" Sam asked. Alex smiled, shrugging. She could tell that Dean was frustrated with Sam, and how he didn't seem inclined to become a sheep and follow the flock.

"Something to do with the gun." Alex responded. Sam waited for the rest of the information, knowing she knew more than she was letting on. "I didn't see much. I think most of the letter was yabbering on about the gun though: how and when it was made. But there was one line that caught my eye." Dean had shifted in this seat, his interest rising. Alex smiled and flicked her eyes to him, letting Sam know he was listening. Sam and Alex stayed silent until Dean sighed, realising they'd caught him.

"What'd it say?" Dean asked. Alex smiled in triumph, as Sam's brows rose, asking the same question.

"It wasn't much. Four words, actually, and I'm not sure if I've put this together properly. But if I'm right, this gun can kill anything." Alex responded. Sam and Dean looked at each other as John pulled into a motel. Dean eased the Impala in behind John, and they got adjoining rooms, having four people instead of three. Alex claimed a bed, glad to have one again. For the time she'd been hunting, she'd been sleeping on the floor, not that she was complaining. The floor was fine, but she missed the soft mattresses.

"So, what do you know about vampires." Alex asked once everyone was in the room. John turned to her, surprised that she seemed to have temporarily taken control. Generally, the lead shifted between them: Sam and Dean holding it more often then not.

"Most vampire lore is crap. A cross won't repel them, sunlight won't kill them, and neither will a stake to the heart. But the bloodlust—that part's true. They need fresh human blood to survive. They were once people, so you won't know it's a vampire until it's too late."

"Ok, so, how are _we _going to find them?" Alex asked. John shook his head, and Alex resisted the urge to roll her eyes. He was starting to piss her off, what with the fact that he didn't trust her.

"I'll find them. I just need you for backup." John told the younger hunters. Alex shook her head and popped her shoes off her feet.

"I'm sick of hearing this crap. 'Night." Alex said before rolling into the bed she'd claimed. John watched impassively, Sam noting that she was only faking being asleep. Understanding, he acted like she was asleep, shaking his head at Dean to let him know.

"Amateur." John said after half an hour had passed and he was sure Alex was dead to the world. "She shouldn't be so at ease with me here. She doesn't know who I am." Sam and Dean exchanged a look, Sam hiding a smirk that the 'amateur' was fooling the professional.

"You don't trust her." Sam answered his dad's searching gaze. John shook his head, not knowing how long Alex had been with his boys and not liking it either way.

"You shouldn't either. Why's she with you, anyway?" John responded. Sam snickered, thinking about how to phrase his answer.

"The demon killed her sister." Dean beat Sam to the punch on one of the reasons. John watched his sons, knowing, from Sam's reaction to the question, that there was more to it.

"She'd have been safer with the rest of her family." John pushed for the rest of the story. Sam looked up at John's apparent lack of concern. The bowl behind him lifted and Sam sent a warning to Alex through their link. The bowl settled silently, and Alex sent Sam an apology.

"The rest of her family died." Sam didn't elaborate on how that had happened. He let his father come to his own conclusion on that. "We heard her screams and managed to get her out."

"That doesn't explain why she's here." John retaliated, knowing there was something they were keeping out of their story.

"Dean lost a bet." Sam's smirk was painted on Alex's face and she struggled to keep one of her own off her face as well. John looked at his watch, sighing.

"Why don't you boys get some sleep. I'll wake you when something happens." John sat on the other bed in the room, his point getting across. Dean and Sam headed into the other room, leaving the door open. If something happened, they wanted to know about it. Although he was trying to hide it, Dean was beginning to get protective of Alex.

Alex stayed where she was, listening to Sam and Dean leaving. She knew she'd placed herself in slight danger for information, but she hadn't found anything out really. She settled herself down to actually go to sleep, and John sighed.

"Could it really be her, Mary?" he breathed. Sensing something near her face, Alex's hand shot out and grabbed John's wrist just before his hand made contact with her skin. It hadn't been anything menacing, rather, she was fairly sure it was the opposite.

"I'm no amateur." Alex hissed quietly at the Winchester. John nodded, conceding the point and Alex rolled over, happy that her point had been made.

* * *

"_Unit twenty-two, let me confirm. Mile marker forty-one, abandoned car. You need a workup?"_

"_Copy that. Possible two-oh-seven. Better get Forensics out here."_

Alex opened her eyes as John turned the walkie-talkie off. He'd found the police's frequency on it, and had been listening to it, hoping to get something on their vampires. Seeing Alex awake, John threw her coat at in her direction before disappearing into the boys' room.

"Sam, Dean, let's go. Picked up a police call." Alex wondered how he'd managed to wake them up without a knife or bullet for his trouble. She'd been trying to do that for weeks now. She got out of the warm covers with a moan of regret and pulled her boots on.

"What happened?" Sam's sleepy voice echoed through the room loud enough for Alex to hear, and she wondered the same thing. Sure, she'd heard the last part of what John had been listening to, but that didn't mean she understood what the hell they'd said.

"A couple called 911. They found a body in the street. Cops got there, everyone was missing. It's the vampires." Alex checked her belt of weapons, making sure they were all in good order. She hadn't taken them off like she normally did, not wanting to let John know about them yet and her body wasn't going to let her forget it.

"How do you know?"

"Just follow me, okay?" John left through the boy's door. Hearing the truck start, Alex scrambled to piece together something that even Dean would at least recognize as breakfast. She tried finding coffee, thinking it would help Dean even if he had to eat the beans straight, but there was nothing close to the reviving stuff.

As they rumbled down the road, Dean's familiar music playing, Alex handed out the rations she'd been able to grab. Once done, she chewed on the muesli bar as she copied the information that was in Elkins's journal into her own. Like John's, this was mostly possible hunts and newspaper clippings.

She looked up as the distinct rumbling of the engine slowed, and stopped. John got out of his truck, parked behind them, and met them at the hood of the Impala.

"Look, I want you three to stay here, you got that?" John waited until everyone had nodded before moving off to talk to the 'big, bad' police. Alex shook her head at the man and joined the brothers, leaning on Dean's pride and joy.

"I don't see why we couldn't have gone over with him." Sam complained. Alex rolled her eyes, not used to this side of Sam. Dean, however, seemed to know it really well, and seemed to be grieving the Sam that Alex had come to know.

"Oh, don't tell me it's already starting." Dean complained. Knowing what he was referring to, Alex nodded her head glumly.

"Yeah, probably." Alex agreed.

"What's starting?" Sam looked back and forth between them, not understanding what they were referring to. Instead of answering, Dean turned to their dad as he came back.

"What do you got?" Dean asked. Alex kept her head down as the words John had murmured before she'd grabbed his wrist flickered through her mind. _Could it really be her, Mary? _She hadn't thought about it before she'd slept, spent as she was. The words came filtering back into her consciousness at the familiar look that passed over John's face that mirrored the one she'd seen last night. Having no idea who Mary was, she decided she'd ask Sam later, as he was the one that was more likely to answer her.

"It was them, all right. Looks like they're headin' west. We're gonna have to double back to get around that detour." John looked in the direction they'd come before turning to the one they needed to go in.

"How can you be so sure?" Sam asked, and Alex sighed. Oh yeah, Dean had been right to warn her. If she was to judge things, she'd have said that she was surprised they hadn't blown up already. The wick had been lit, and it was just a matter of time before it got to the bomb.

"Sam-" Dean tried to warn Sam off the subject, but Sam cut him off.

"I just wanna know we're goin' in the right direction."

"We are." John seemed sure about it and, for now, Alex ok with following his lead.

"How do you know?" Sam was challenging John, refusing to be a sheep. He'd follow, sure, but he wouldn't do it blindly. He needed information, proof that it was a good idea. Sure, when he was little, he followed unquestioningly, but back then, he didn't know any better. Sam held his father's gaze before John dropped it to pull something out of his pocket.

"I found this." John responded, holding the small object out. Dean took it and Alex stepped forward, trying to see what it was. White, long and sharp, it resembled a canine tooth, only on a smaller scale.

"It's a vampire fang." Dean was surprised at the thing; after all, yesterday he'd believed that vampires never even existed.

"No fangs—teeth. The second set descends when they attack." John corrected his oldest son. He levelled his gaze at Sam, sending the challenge right back. "Any more questions?" Sam didn't say anything, but Alex noticed the tell-tale twitch that told her his jaw was clenched. She rolled her eyes and sent him a calming feeling that he threw off. Once John was sure his youngest was dealt with, he continued. "All right, let's get out of here, we're losin' daylight." John began to walk back to his car, turning back almost half way there, almost as though he'd had an after thought. "Hey, Dean, why don't you touch up your car before you get rust? I wouldn't have given you the damn thing if I thought you were gonna ruin it."

Alex turned to Dean, not sure what to expect. He shrugged his shoulders in a way that told her he was surprised. Alex got into the car, knowing that John had been unfair to Dean. She didn't know anyone who took care of their car half as much as he did. For whatever reason, Dean got in shotgun, while Sam drove. She had a feeling that it might be Dean's way of trying to get Sam to burn off some steam.

After a while of silence, Sam turned to Alex, flicking his gaze to the road every few seconds, seeing her writing in her book, copying from the dead hunter's journal. The only other person they'd seen on the road so far had been their dad. Feeling his gaze, Alex looked up and smiled at him, not sure what he was looking at.

"What have you found?" Alex raised an eyebrow and turned back to Elkins's journal. Flipping through a few pages, she sighed and rubbed her eyes.

"Alright, let's see… uh, first off, they're called a nest of vampires. Or, according to this, they are. They send smaller packs out hunting for food. Those they find, they take back to the nest and they keep these poor souls alive, drinking from them for days or weeks." Alex sighed, rubbed her eyes again and flipped though a few more pages, getting back to where she'd been reading. "That's all I've got so far."

"I wonder if that's what happened to that 911 couple." Dean tried to keep the conversation in safe grounds: vampires. He shook his head, laughing inwardly. What normal people thought was an insane topic, he took as safe.

"That's probably what Dad's thinking. Of course, it would be nice if he just told us what he thinks." Sam growled. Alex sighed in exasperation at Sam's single-mindedness. It was annoying her, and it had barely been a day. She had to give it to Dean: he'd had one hell of a childhood. Between the hunting, having the weight of protecting Sam and this, she had no idea how he came out of it sane. She was fairly sure that she'd have killed _one_ of them at _least_ by now, especially with her abilities. She winced at the thought as she remembered killing her own dad and sister. She wasn't sure how she managed that, as right now, she could barely lift a bowl. When she looked back, however, she seemed to feel another presence, one that she hadn't felt when she was actually there. She'd put that down to knowing the demon had killed her sister and was trying to pin the rest of the killings on him.

"So, it _is_ starting." Dean looked at Sam, knowing full well that his dad and Sam would be at each other's throats. He'd just thought it'd take longer. He'd gotten between them before, but the last time he'd done that, Sam had been nineteen. He was thankful that he had Alex by his side now. He had help.

"What?" Sam shifted, uncomfortable under his brother's gaze.

"Sam, we've been lookin' for Dad all year. Now we're not with him for more than a couple of hours, and there's static already?" Dean was disbelieving, but he knew that he should have expected this. After all, it's what they'd been doing for as long as he remembered.

"No. Look, I'm happy he's okay, all right? And I'm happy that we're all workin' together again." Sam responded. Alex knew there was a _but…_ coming, and, apparently, so did Dean.

"Good." He cut in before Sam could go on.

"It's just the way he treats us like we're children. He barks orders at us, Dean, he expects us to follow him without question. He keeps us on some crap need-to-know deal." Sam ranted. Alex rolled her eyes through it, although she agreed with him, she wasn't that frustrated with it. True, it wasn't like she expected any better, but she thought he'd at least tell his sons what the hell was going on.

"He does what he does for a reason." Dean tried to soothe his younger brother, holding back his own frustration. For once, just once, he wanted not to have to get in between Sam and John. He'd stopped the arguments from turning to blows countless times, using force more times than not.

"What reason?" Sam demanded of his brother. He couldn't believe Dean was defending John. Not after hunting on their own for a year, looking for him for a good part of it. Hell, they'd practically picked up their own protégé along the way.

"Our job! There's no time to argue, there's no margin for error, all right, it's just the way the old man runs-" Dean remind Sam. Alex closed Elkins's journal, thinking it'd be good for smacking the Winchesters over the head. It was full of paper, and, while she'd prefer a hardcover, this was the best she had.

"Yeah, well, maybe that worked when we were kids, but not anymore, all right? Not after everything you and I have been through, Dean. I mean, are you tellin' me you're cool with just fallin' into line and lettin' him run the whole show?" Alex shook her head at Sam, knowing he didn't want the real answer, not the one Dean would give him.

Dean was silent for a moment, long enough for Sam to have already guessed his answer. "If that's what it takes." Sam turned back to the road, shaking his head. Alex sighed, and put the books down, getting comfortable in the back seat. While they were ignoring each other, she may as well take advantage of the quiet to get some sleep. It was going to be a long hunt, she could tell that much, between having next to no information and the Winchesters arguing.

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A/N: I would like to give a huge, massive,super-human and paranormal

_**thank you**__to Wingedteen for her giftfic _'Just one of Those Days'. (remove spaces ) http: /www. fanfiction. net/s/6199324/1/ 


	14. Departed Human's Juice

**Disclaimer:** I don't own _Supernatural _nor do I own Sam or Dean. I am, however, addicted to their show.

**Beta:** Wingedteen

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Defiance

Reunion. After an aging spook hunter falls prey to the vampires he thought he had long ago destroyed, John Winchester joins his sons (meeting Alex) to battle the bloodsuckers- and retrieve an unearthly gun they possess.

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Departed Human's Juice

Alex woke again at one. Sighing, she stretched, trying to get rid of all the kinks that she'd gotten from sleeping in the back seat of the car. Apparently, the boys had made a pit stop while she'd been out for the count. Alex took the offered packet of chips from Dean, eating them slowly, trying to keep down her measly breakfast. She grabbed the plastic bag she'd learnt to keep in the back seat and threw the rubbish from Sam and Dean's lunch in. Rubbing the sleep from her eyes, Alex noticed with surprise that Sam was still driving. With another soft sigh, she picked up the two journals that had slipped onto the floor and began once again began to look for the information to copy.

As the sun began to set, Alex fished around for the torch she left in the back seat for that reason. Clicking it on, she cursed that Sam refused to let Dean put on one of his tapes. Hell, she was fairly sure that Dean would have preferred to listen to Rihanna then this silence. The only noise she heard was the turning of the pages in the journal and the monotonous rumbling of the engine. The sudden burst of classical rock, signalling a call to Dean's phone, made her jump. Dean picked up, and from the change in his expression, Alex could tell who he was talking to.

"Yeah, Dad. All right, got it." Dean answered the order that John had obviously given him before hanging up. "Pull off at the next exit." Dean told Sam. Alex crossed her fingers and prayed he wouldn't-

"Why?" Sam asked. His voice was quiet and deadly. So much for that. Apparently, he was still pissed off, even after a few hours of Dean and Alex trying to let him cool down.

"Because Dad thinks we've got the vampires' trail."

"How?"

"I don't know, he didn't say." At Dean's answered, Sam's face twisted in malice, and he pushed the peddle down as far as it would go, overtaking John's truck. With a practiced twist of the wheel and press on the brake, Sam spun the 38 year old car around, blocking the road and forcing John's truck to come to a stop. Alex watched the brothers get out of the Impala, Sam confronting his father, Dean hoping to stop it from coming to blows.

"What the hell was that?" John demanded of his youngest son. Alex could hear them perfectly from the car. She looked at the road, hoping that she wouldn't see the headlights of another car, knowing it was night and both the Impala and John's truck were black.

"We need to talk." Sam growled at his dad, the person who taught him how to live this life, the person who doomed him to be a freak.

"About what?"

"About everything. Where we goin', Dad? What's the big deal about this gun?" like father, like son. Sam's fury matched John's, spike for spike, flame for flame. Alex shook her head at their idiocy. She knew Sam still remembered what she'd told him, what she'd seen, but she also knew he understood that she wasn't sure if she was right.

"Sammy, come on, we can Q and A after we kill all the vampires." Dean tried to defuse the situation; an effort Alex knew was way too late.

"Your brother's right, we don't have time for this." John seemed just as calm as Alex, who was nsitting in the back seat of the car, watching through an open window. But, Alex knew that he was also about as calm as she was. And about every inch of her was tense, ready for action, and her extra supernatural advantage was itching to be used, damn the consequences.

"Last time we saw you, you said it was too dangerous to be together. Now, out of the blue, you need our help. Now, obviously, something big is goin' down, and we wanna know what!" Alex thought that was a reasonable demand, but now was so not the time for it. Not while everyone was at each other's throats, anyway.

"Get back in the car." John's voice was dangerously low.

"No." Sam didn't back down. Knowing that if they didn't stop it soon, it would turn into a fistfight, Alex moved to the door, ready to open it if she needed to. She trusted Dean though. If he really needed her help, he'd let her know

"I said get back in the damn car." John took a threatening step towards Sam, trying to get him to back down, once again.

"Yeah. And I said no." instead of backing down, Sam took another step forward, so he and his dad where centimetres apart.

"All right, you made your point, tough guy. Look, we're all tired. We can talk about this later." Seeing immediately that it wasn't going to work, Dean grabbed Sam's shirt and turned him away. "Sammy, I mean it, come on." Sam began to walk back to the car, Dean beside him, trying to make sure that he didn't turn around again.

"This is why I left in the first place." Sam muttered, close enough to the car Alex heard it. She had to hand it to Sam, she'd have done the same thing.

"What'd you say?"

"You heard me." John had built the fire up again, and Alex shook her head. Why couldn't these Winchesters just leave things well enough alone?

"Yeah. _You_ left. Your brother and me, we needed you. _You _walked away, Sam, _you _walked away!" John grabbed Sam's shirt, probably intending to shake him.

"Stop it, both of you!" once again, Dean tried to cover the fire in sand, but this time, it was like chucking a handful of the stuff onto a bonfire.

"You were the one who said 'Don't come back', Dad. You're the one who closed that door, not me! You were just pissed off you couldn't control me anymore!" the sound of the car door closing called Sam's attention to Alex, standing by the door. Her eyes spoke her fury at them, and Sam hurried to calm her before someone got hurt, or ended up dead. "Alex, calm down. Easy."

Alex smirked at Sam, shaking her head. "Oh, _I _need to calm down." She laughed without mirth. "Oh, that's rich. Sam, remind me again, who was just in a fight?"

"Alex, just calm down, deep breath-"

"Get the fuck back in the car Sam." Sam complied quickly. Alex flicked her eyes to John, and she raised her brows at him. "I'd suggest you get into your car as well." she growled. Not understanding his youngest son's reaction, John climbed back into his seat. Dean threw his arms up in defeat.

"Terrific." He growled.

"Perfect." Alex agreed sarcastically.

* * *

Alex watched from behind the trees as an old car drove to the vampire's nest. It was early morning, and she was still blinking sleep from her eyes. The car was obviously run down, and she wasn't sure how well it ran. Someone got out of the car- a vampire, if John was right. It was a man, in gothic looking clothes, a black shirt and jeans, under a dark denim vest. Another man opened the door to greet him, shading his eyes from the rising sun. The Goth vampire walked past the other, while he looked around, watching for signs of pursuit. Seeing nothing, he closed the door. Alex turned to John for behind their chosen spot.

"Son of a bitch. So, they're really not afraid of the sun?" Dean asked. Alex shook her head at him, rolling her eyes. She'd told him that once she'd found it in Elkins' diary, copying it into her own.

"No, direct sunlight hurts like a nasty sunburn." John answered his oldest, wondering what Alex's reaction to the question was. He didn't really like her hanging round his boys. "The only way to kill them is by beheading. And, yeah, they sleep during the day. It doesn't mean they won't wake up." John finished. Sam grinned behind them, laughing at Alex's reaction.

"So I guess walking right in's not our best option." Dean observed, thinking about these things. They sounded literally like super-humans, only they needed human blood.

"Actually, that's the plan." John responded. Alex looked back at him, surprised by his answer. He hadn't _seemed_ suicidal or crazy. Until now. Never the less, she sat back and watched the house without a word. Once the sun had reached a point only he could see, John got up, followed by Sam, Dean and Alex. They walked silently to where they'd parked their cars, a kilometre away. Dean handed out the machetes and Alex looped hers on, copying Sam. She still hadn't let the eldest Winchester in on her belt full of weapons, and, as far as she knew, neither had Sam or Dean.

As they were arming themselves, John sighed, leaning on his truck.

"So….you really wanna know about this Colt?" John asked. Alex froze what she'd been doing, sharing a glance with Sam and Dean. Apparently they were as surprised about this as she was.

"Yes, sir." Sam answered for all of them.

"It's just a story- a legend, really. Well, I thought it was. Never really believed it until I read Daniel's letter. Back in 1835, when Halley's Comet was overhead, the same night those men died at the Alamo, they say Samuel Colt made a gun- a special gun. He made it for a hunter, a man like us, only on horseback. The story goes he made thirteen bullets. This hunter used the gun a half dozen times before he disappeared, the gun along with him. Somehow, Daniel got his hands on it. They say- they say this gun can kill anything." John finished his tale.

"Kill anything, like, supernatural anything?" Dean asked.

"Like the demon." Alex and Sam said at the same time; Sam disbelievingly, Alex with as much hate as they'd ever heard in her voice. John shook off Sam and Alex's twin reaction, answering their questioning gaze.

"Yeah, the demon. Ever since I picked up its trail, I've been lookin' for a way to destroy that thing. Find the gun… we may have it." with an anticipating smile, Alex continued to buckle the machete around her waist.

They made the walk back to the house in better spirits. Finding a way in was hard: the door would be too loud and it would let in a lot of light. Eventually John found a window that he thought would work. At his signal, Dean gave his father a leg up, holding him high enough so that he could get in. John opened the window, stepping onto a hay bail, and silently moving off. Sam moved to Dean's side, helping him up. Alex was the last up, after helping Sam. He'd lifted her in through the window, getting her into the clear. He moved off, leaving it to Alex to close it in such a way that it wouldn't make any noise. She winced as Dean kicked a bottle, causing it to fall. As the tinkering of the glass died away, Alex watched, making sure none of the vampires woke up.

Once the window was closed, Alex scouted the area around the door, making sure that it was clear. She silently unlatched it, giving them a quick get-away if they needed it.

When she got back, Sam was untying a woman on a pole. She tapped Sam to get his attention, and held her arms out, asking where Dean was. Sam nodded his head in Dean's direction. He was opening the door to another human holding chamber, this one a cell with and dozen or so people all in the same place. Alex grabbed Sam's wrist, noticing that one important detail.

"Sam, why's she different?" she asked. Sam looked at her in confusion, but she couldn't explain herself. The woman Sam was untying shifted, slipping back into consciousness.

"Hey, hey, shh, I'm here to help you." Sam assured her. Alex took a step back, pulling Sam with her as the woman woke. She let out a scream, and her second teeth descended to cover her first ones. Sam looked at her in disbelief. Alex whirled, just as John's order reached her ears.

"Run!" Alex threw the door open when she reached it, racing in the direction of the cars at first, slowing when she realised that there wasn't anything following her apart from Sam and Dean. She seemed to come to the conclusion at the same time the boys did.

"Dad?" Dean yelled. When there was no response, Dean tried again. He looked desperately at Sam and Alex before they heard movement. Alex's hand moved to the machete on her hip, next to the hidden gun and nun-chucks. It fell as she recognised the figure to be John, and waited until he reached them.

"They won't follow. They'll wait 'til tonight. Once a vampire gets your scent, it's for life." John told them. Alex brows shot up, not sure what he meant, except that they didn't need to run for now. They would have until sundown to work something out, or high-tail it out of there.

"What the hell do we do now?" Dean asked, voicing the question that was racing through Alex's head.

"You got to find the nearest funeral home, that's what." Alex nodded. As her panic died down, she was starting to remember what the journal had told her. Dean and Sam exchanged confused glances, and Alex explained.

"We need to get some dead man's blood." John looked at her in surprise, and she shrugged, knowing that wouldn't be the only thing that she'd be able to surprise him with. She was fairly sure that he didn't know how well she could fight, and, until she trusted him, that was how it was going to stay. No need to give up the element of surprise. "Elkins's journal is one hell of a gold mine for killing those suckers." She answered. John nodded, giving her the point. John explained his plan, and Alex, Sam and Dean nodded, agreeing to it.

"Sam, you're with me. Dean, Alex, get the blood." Alex smiled at Sam before slipping into shotgun for the first time. Sam sighed and joined his father in the truck. He wasn't really sure if this was a good idea, but there was nothing he could do about it. He rested his head on the window the whole way to the next town, watching the Impala in front of them until John peeled off to get a motel. Once there, John left Dean a message about where they were and started researching, leaving Sam with nothing to do. After a few minutes, Sam got up and began to pace, unable to take it.

"It shouldn't be taking this long. I should go help." He declared. He walked to the door, determined to get in his dad's truck and drive it to where ever Dean and Alex were. True, his link to Alex wasn't letting off any alarm bells. Actually, it seemed strangely quiet. He hadn't been too far away from her since it had been forged, but now, he realised that distance might affect it, something he'd never thought of before.

"Dean's got it." Sam turned, and paced back the other way. "Sammy…" Half way to the point where he normally turned around, John called him. He stopped, turning to face his father.

"Yeah?"

"I don't think I ever told you this, but… the day you were born, you know what I did?"

"No." John was right, he'd never heard about his before, and he didn't think Dean had either. John smiled softly at his son.

"I put a hundred bucks into a savings account for you. I did the same thing for your brother. It was a college fund. And every month, I'd put in another hundred dollars, until… Anyway, my point is, Sam, that… this is never the life that I wanted for you." Sam suppressed a smile, knowing this conversation was starting to stray into the borders of violating one of Dean's biggest rules: No chick flick moments.

"Then why'd you get so mad when I left?" he remembered the argument that night. That had been one of the arguments that Dean hadn't been able to stop. He'd been too stunned at the time to do anything.

"You got to understand something. After your mother passed, all I saw was evil, everywhere. And all I cared about was keeping you boys alive. I wanted you prepared, ready. So, somewhere along the line, I, uh… I stopped being your father. And I- I became your drill sergeant. So, when you said that you wanted to go away to school, all I could think about- my only thought was that you were gonna be alone… vulnerable. Sammy, it just- it never occurred to me what you wanted. I just couldn't accept the fact that you and me… we're just different." While he'd been speaking, Sam had sat opposite his dad, listening to the thing that was the closest to an apology he was ever going to get. He laughed in spite of himself. "What?" John didn't quite understand quite what was funny about that.

"We're not different. Not anymore. With what happened to Mom and Jess….we probably have a lot more in common than just about anyone."

"I guess you're right, son."

"Hey, Dad? Whatever happened to that college fund?"

"I spent it on ammo." Sam nodded, laughing. Of corse he did. "Sammy." Sam turned to his dad, not used to that tone of voice. "I need you to do me a favour." John handed a card across the table between them. Sam twisted it over. Under it was a piece of paper holding an address to a post office box. He turned back to the card, recognising it as a driver's licence. The picture was enough to tell him whose it was. The words printed across the top proclaimed it was _Alexandra W. Bashter_'s. "Sammy, I need you to get her birth certificate. Don't let anyone know and… keep her with you." Sam frowned at John's words, but he found himself wanting to do this one thing. After all, it'd be a favour to Alex as well. He knew she was looking for her real family.

"Whew! Man, there's some heavy security to protect a bunch of dead guys." Dean cried as he walked in, Alex behind him. Sam slipped the paper and card into his pocket, hiding it from sight.

"Did you get it?" John asked. Alex took a jar out of her pocket, revealing the red, sticky liquid. John smiled, nodding. Alex handed it to Dean, and he threw the keys to the impala to Alex. "You know what to do." John nodded at Sam and Dean.

"You sure about this?" Alex asked Dean. Dean looked, smiling at Alex.

"Yeah. But if you so much as scratch my car, I'll kill you."

* * *

A few hours later, the Impala was on the side of the road, hood up. As Alex didn't know much about cars, she was afraid to touch it, incase she made whatever had happened worse.

"Fuck! Dean's gonna kill me." she declared, pulling away from the car to come face to face with two of the vampires from the nest.

"Car trouble? Let me give you a lift. I'll take you back to my place." A female vampire, one that Alex hadn't seen, smiled. She was a brunette, and she was just plainly and simply… creepy. Stepping back, Alex summoned up her courage, the evil glint entering her eyes.

"I'm sorry. Dead just isn't my type." Alex answered with a grin.

"Ooh." The vampire backhanded her, and Alex fell to the ground, hissing at the surprising impact. She shook her head, trying to collect her concentration when the women bent down, grabbing her cheeks. Without breaking a sweat, the vampire lifted her up and Alex twisted, trying to break the vice-like grip on her.

"What's a girl gotta do to get her message across? Darlin', I'm not into ladies." Alex asked, feeling bruises beginning to form around her mouth.

"You know, you look interesting. I think Luther might like you." The woman smiled. The vampire behind her mirrored the grin. Narrowing her eyes, Alex smirked down at the vampire holding her.

"Well, I'd hate to disappoint Luther, but _I'm_ not 'interested'_."_ An arrowhead appeared in the vampire's stomach, and she dropped Alex to the road again. Blinking away her daze, the vampire turned, noticing the three Winchesters emerging from the woods, bows in hand.

"Barely even stings." The vampire told them. Alex got to her feet, wincing slightly at the pain in her head. She'd been though worse, though. Hell, she'd put _herself_ though worse. She got up as John responded to the taunt the vampire had thrown his way.

"Give it time, sweetheart. That arrow's soaked in dead man's blood. It's like poison to you, isn't it?" the vampire's smile faded and she seemed to faint, falling onto Alex, who just had enough warning to brace herself. She staggered under the weight for a second before getting the vampire in a better position to carry. "Load her up. I'll take care of this one." Alex turned to put the vampire in the back seat, covered in old newspapers under Dean's orders. _If I've gotta have a dead thing in my car, it's not touching my baby._ Alex shook her head at the memory_._

Once getting the vampire into the car so it wasn't touching anything but paper, Alex got in with it. To Dean, her job was to make sure that it didn't touch anything else. Dean pulled the hood down, and walked to his side of the car. They where heading to a prearranged spot, though Alex didn't know where. That way, if something hadn't gone to plan and the vampires got her, she wouldn't have been able to sell them out.

The fire was down to coals when Dean pulled the car up. Alex tied the vampire to a hidden tree near it and helped Sam and Dean get the fire going with a bit more enthusiasm. John went to his waiting truck, pulling out a bag and throwing in a few different odds and ends. Once the younger hunters had the fire cracking merrily –who ever thought of that phrase had had too much Christmas spirit in their eggnog- John handed the bag to her.

"Toss this on the fire." Was his order. Alex raised a brow at John –half as a challenge- and he answered the question, seeming to not notice the dare. "Saffron, skunks, cabbage, and trillium: it'll block our scent and hers until we're ready."

"Stuff stinks." Dean commented, and Alex rolled her eyes at him.

"It's got _skunks_ in it Dean." She muttered as she started to put the stuff on the fire.

"Well, that's the idea. Dust your clothes with the ashes, and you'll stand a chance of not being detected." Once done with the bag of stuff, Alex slipped into the shadows. Every so often, Sam would send a glance her way, as though checking to see if she was still there.

"You sure they'll come after her?" Sam asked. Alex nodded, although no one saw her. She considered moving closer to the fire, but decided that she liked where she was. After all, if something unfriendly showed up, she might have the element of surprise.

"Yeah. Vampires mate for life. She means more to the leader than the gun. But the blood sickness is gonna wear off soon. So you don't have a lot of time." John looked over at the vampire they'd tied up. She was starting to move about, waking from the coma-like state the blood had put her in.

"Half-hour ought to do it." Sam answered, thinking of the next step in their plan. Alex shifted, and the boys spun to look at her, pulling the machetes out as they went. Alex pulled her hands up, letting them figure out who she was as she pulled the universal sign for peace.

"I want you out of the area as fast as you can." John turned back to Sam and Dean once they where sure that Alex wasn't a vampire.

"Dad, you can't take care of them all yourself." Dean argued

"I'll have her and the Colt." John responded. Alex's hand crept towards her nun-chucks, but she stilled the movement, knowing that it wouldn't accomplish anything apart from losing the trust she'd gained from Sam and Dean.

"But after—we're gonna meet up, right? Use the gun _together_, right?" Sam shook his head as his dad stayed silent, giving him his answer. "You're leaving again, aren't you? You still want to go after the demon alone? You know, I don't get you. You can't treat us like this."

"Like what?" John asked, knowing what Sam was about to say.

"Like children."

"You _are_ my children."

"I'm not." Alex responded. She stepped into the light. Annoyed as she was with John, she forgot about staying hidden.

"I'm trying to keep you safe." John

"Dad, all due respect, but , uh, that's a bunch of crap." The others turned to Dean, surprised at his response. Alex recovered first, smiling at Dean, showing him she was with him all the way.

"'Bout time you jumped on in." Alex smiled at Dean, and Sam swallowed his astonishment, grinning at his brother.

"You know what Sammy and I have been huntin'. Hell, you sent us on a few huntin' trips yourself. You can't be that worried about keeping us safe." Dean pushed, annoyed at his father's thinking. Yes, he'd told Sam he was willing to sit back and follow orders, but this was beyond annoying. This was complete and utter lack of regard for their thoughts and cares.

"It's not the same thing, Dean."

"Not at all, no. It's not like we haven't been up against something that you can only kill in about a three minute opportunity window. Tell me, how exactly is this different?" Alex growled. She was just so damn sick of him thinking that they had no mind of their own. She'd been able to earn his sons' respect and trust. He hadn't given even his sons that, let alone giving it to anyone else. She didn't understand it, and wasn't about to take it lightly.

"This demon? It's a bad son of a bitch. I can't make the same moves if I'm worried about keeping you alive." John tried to reason with them, but Alex knew that he was the one that had lost his sense in this case. She rolled her eyes as Dean answered.

"You mean you can't be as reckless."

"Look… I don't expect to make it out of this fight in one piece. Your mother's death—it almost killed me. I can't watch my children die, too. I won't." Alex clenched her teeth, stopping herself from attacking John in any way.

"What happens if you die? Dad, what happens if you die and we could have done somethin' about it? You know, I've been thinkin'—I think maybe Sammy's right about this one. I think we should do this together. We're stronger as a family, Dad. We just are. You know it." Alex knew what John would have seen. His two sons and a girl, standing united, not budging. She thought he'd give in, see some kind of sense, rather than the blind panic he seemed to have over keeping his kids alive. She thought that the man would at least trust his own sons to look out for him. Instead, he changed the subject completely.

"We're running out of time. You do your job, and you get out of the area. That's an order." As John walked off to his truck, Alex couldn't stop herself. With a flick of her eyes in his direction, she made him stumble, catch a rock and fall down.

"That installs so much confidence that you'll survive." She called to him. He got back up and kept walking, untying the vampire and putting her into the passenger seat of the truck. He climbed into his seat and drove off, ending the argument.

Alex rolled her eyes at the stupidity of the man. As one, Alex, Sam and Dean rubbed the ashes from the fire onto their clothes, covering their scent as well as they could. Alex carefully slipped into the back, staying on the newspaper, trying to keep her area as clean as she could. About a kilometre out from the building they'd seen the vampires in, Dean stopped the engine and they jumped out of the shiny car, slipping into the plant's shadows like they were trees themselves.

Alex froze as she saw most of the vampires still hanging around. Too far away to hear their conversation, the trio watched them, hyper-aware of everything around them, knowing one wrong move could be their last. Eventually they heard the truck's rumbling as John drove it past the nest to get the leader's attention. Most of them quickly jumped into cars and gave chase, leaving few a vampires behind for the other hunters to deal with.

Quickly, they stole into the barn, each knowing they wanted to get back to John, try to make him see some kind of sense. Alex knew she wasn't going to be left behind like the luggage that John saw her as. She'd put tracers in Sam and Dean's pockets if she had to. Alex landed lightly on her feet beside Sam. They took a quick look around, before disappearing. They all knew the plan, who was doing what. Sam and Dean went to deal with the few vampires that where there while Alex moved off to the cages holding the vampire's food source. She heard the soft sound of Dean's voice and decided it was safe enough to break the locks. With the clang of metal, the doors where open, and Alex was getting rid of the bonds that still held the civillians in place.

There where about ten people there, and Alex had gotten through half of them by the time Sam and Dean came to help. Alex quickly decided on the person who was in the best condition. Sam handed her a discarded phone he'd found and rambled off the address they were at before they moved off, feeling the need to get to John, knowing that even as good of a hunter as he was, something could still go wrong.

They found John quickly, not too far up the road. Alex checked the wind and stayed upwind to the creatures, moving quickly and silently into position. As they watched, the lead vampire, the one Alex thought to be Luther, moved forward and put the gun on the ground. Sam and Dean pulled the cross bows back, ready for action. Alex didn't have one, as she didn't know how to aim properly and they didn't want her to kill John by accident.

As the lead vampire moved back, John moved forward, holding the vampire they'd caught, knife to her throat, ready to decapitate her if needed be. Alex saw what John hadn't as he bent down to grab the gun, and nudged Sam and Dean, letting them know to be ready. The female vampire he held had gotten the restraints loose. She grabbed the gun before John could, and spun, throwing him back, landing heavily on the front of the truck. Dean aimed, his arrow cutting straight through the stomach of the vampire, slamming though the bullseye. The vampires turned as they rushed down to attack, pulling out the blades by their sides.

Alex got there first, battling the first vampire she got to. By the time she managed to deal the death blow she had taken a few good blows despite being light on her feet and her martial arts training. Just as the vampire's head hit the ground, however, one of the vampire's voices from behind her caused her to freeze.

"_Stop!" _spinning, she saw Sam hadn't been as successful with his fight. The leader of the nest had gotten the best of Sam, keeping him in a choke hold. Sam's face was turning red, changing rapidly to purple as she and Dean moved to help Sam, blades held ready to kill. "Don't! I'll break his neck." As one Alex and Dean froze again, knowing the vampire was serious. "Put the blades down."

Dean shot a glance over at Alex, and she knew what he was asking. Uncurling the energy in her head, she channelled it though her arm and down to her hand, having learnt that it got easier to guide it with her hands. She twitched her fingers, using all her strength to pry the arm from Sam's throat. She didn't get far, but Sam did manage to get a good breath of air. Flicking her eyes back to Dean she twitched her head, motioning to him that it was beyond her abilities. Slowly, carefully, they moved, dropping the machetes to the floor, trying to keep the peace between themselves and the vampires long enough to keep Sam alive.

"You people—why can't you just leave us alone? We have as much right to live as you do." The vampire holding Sam demanded. Out of the corner of her eye, Alex saw someone move, but didn't pay it much heed, concentrating on Sam as she was.

"I don't think so." John responded as he pulled the trigger to the gun. As it entered the vampire's skull, he let go of Sam, who stumbled into Dean, deprived of oxygen as he was. Dean grabbed his little brother, holding him up as he watched the vampire sink to his knees.

"Luther!" the previously captured vampire yelled, calling out to the man as he died. Alex watched as a flash of light pulled out from the man before he fell face first into the bitumen. The captured vampire began to walk over, livid and hungry for revenge. One of the other vampires grabbed her and pulled her off, back towards the car. Alex knew that if they ever ran into these vampires again, they'd have to kill them. She watched as they disappeared down the road, falling to the back of Alex's mind as they did so.

"Well, at least we know it works." She smiled as the men turned to her, shock still etched on the brothers' faces while John's was lit with satisfaction.

"Allright, come on." Dean cried walking back the way they'd come. Alex jogged to catch up, walking with the brothers, her fellow hunters. John watched, not sure what they where doing, but he didn't follow. Instead, he heaved the vampire that he'd just shot onto this back, dumping the carcass in the back of the truck, and doing the same for the others that had been killed. He needed to get rid of them before anyone found the bodies. They may have been vampires, but, to the rest of the world, they still looked like humans.

* * *

Alex climbed into the back seat of the Impala, fuming at John's stupidity.

"So, we're just gonna head back to the motel like nothing happened?" she questioned Sam and Dean, knowing that was what Dean at least had in mind. They sighed, and Dean started the engine as a response. "You've got to be kidding me." Alex muttered as she pressed back into the seat.

As the car pulled up at the motel, she jumped out and began to pack the little she'd pulled out, throwing it angrily into her duffle bag. Sam and Dean packed as well, their actions showing they didn't like the prospect much more then she did. They turned as the door opened, admitting John. They'd known it was him as the rumble of the truck had given him away. He sighed as he looked in, leaning on the wall next to the door.

"So, guys…"

"Yes, sir?" Sam questioned what their dad was doing back that the motel. His stuff had already been cleaned out, and he'd practically already said his goodbyes by the fire.

"You ignored a direct order back there." John accused them.

"Yes, sir." Sam seemed to be ashamed, a dog lowering its self before its owner, knowing it was going to be punished.

"Saved your sorry ass." Alex muttered. She glared at the man as John looked her way, seeing the defiant streak in her as clearly as if it was blond in her hair. Her father would have had a hell of a job rasing her, being challenged at every corner, every turn: having even the simplest things questioned.

"You're right." John agreed.

"She is?" Dean seemed slightly surprised, the emotion getting passed his mask of indifference.

"It scares the hell out of me. You boys are all I've got. But I guess we _are_ stronger as a family. So… we go after this damn thing- together."

"Yes sir!" Sam and Dean responded at the Sam time. With a sigh, Alex zipped the bag closed and flung it over her shoulder, calling the location of the nearest bus stop to mind. She wasn't part of the family: she hadn't really expected anything different. She pulled her head down, shaking it to keep her unshed tears of hurt and betrayal from showing. However, she couldn't stop Sam from getting them when he searched her for her emotions. She felt his hand on her shoulder, spinning her before she could reach the door.

"And where do you think you're going?" he demanded. Alex looked up, praying they wouldn't notice the tears and hoping her voice wouldn't give her away.

"You're going as a family. I'm not really part of it." she muttered, trying to pull out of Sam's grip. Sam gave her a soft smile and pulled her into a hug instead. Looking over his shoulder, Alex saw Dean and John's confused faces.

"You're my sister-in-arms. That makes you family." Sam replied as he pulled out of the one sided hug. Alex turned to Dean and John, seeing the same smile copied onto their faces. She managed to give them a weak one back, surprised as she was. John stepped forward and held his hand out for Alex to shake. She dropped the bag, and firmly took it, meeting his eyes, without the challenge or defiance that she usually carried with it.

"So, that bet you made with Dean… what was it?" John questioned. Alex's smile went from grateful to smug as her eyes flickered to Dean's pleading ones for a moment.

"He didn't realise I was in twelve different martial arts at the time. I hold five black-belts and six senior." Alex grinned over at Dean as he rolled his eyes at her. John nodded at her.

"So that's where you got the fancy fighting from." John nodded and moved away to talk with Sam. Dean picked up Alex's discarded bag before she could recover.

"Come on, lesbian. Lets go put you stuff away." Dean threw Alex a trade-mark smile over his shoulder as he said that.

"Who ever said I was a lesbian?" she growled at him. Dean turned, throwing his bag and Alex's to the floor, fairly sure what was coming next.

"Well, you and that vamp where gettin' pretty cozy."

"Do _not_ make me whoop your ass again." Alex threatened.

"Alex, only straight girls do that to guys." Dean answered, stepping back into a better stance to survive what he knew was coming. Sure enough, Alex threw herself at him, Sam and John laughing, watching them wrestle on the motel floor.

_

* * *

_

A/N: So, how well does Alex fit in with the Winchesters?

_Ok, ok, ok. Yes, I know it took __**ages **__for me to update, but both my Beta and I had homework piles the size of Everest, and I've just finished this chapter and gotten it checked. I am so __**very, very**__ sorry, and please be assured that, no, I'm not loosing interest in this story. Quite the opposite, actually. I'm still getting about a million different ideas and thoughts running through my head, and about a thousand different ways to do them all. _

_I hope you can all find it in your hearts to forgive my slow update._

_-Jasper's Imaginary Friend_


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